Greetings all! It's been a bit so I hope this Chapter finds you well! Things on my side have been a bit busy with sickness, a schedule change and a bunch of other things. But Chapter 11 has finally been born! Hopefully you'll all enjoy!

Cindy Pracket Roster

Kong (Mankey)

Polli (Poliwag)

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When someone is exposed to stressful or dangerous situations, there are four F's that someone will experience as their response. The first two most people will know. That's the Flight or Fight response. Your hormones kick in and you either fuck them up or get the fuck out of dodge. Then you have Fawn. That's where you cater to the person or situation to diffuse it and avoid conflict altogether. The fourth is Freeze. That's when your body stands stock still and nothing happens.

We, fortunately, chose to freeze first. Jace grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back quickly to avoid the Gloom's gaze. I leaned back against the tree and grabbed my chest with my hand. My heart was pounding against my chest, beating so rapidly I could hardly believe that it hadn't exploded and that I was still breathing. I glanced over toward Jace and saw that he wasn't doing any better. Jace was pouring sweat. His skin was pale as paper and his eyes were glazed staring off into the forest the way we came.

Fuck…FUCK! We needed to figure out what to do quickly before we got ourselves into some serious trouble we wouldn't be able to get ourselves out of. There was a brush of fur against my arm that I snapped my attention to ready to sprint at a moment's notice.

It was Kong. He had reached over to help calm me down. I could see the slight tremors along his fur as he twitched from the natural fear reaction. But the look in his eyes…they held nothing but focus. He was uneased and slightly frightened at the gruesome site that lay just over the thicket, but he had the will to be ready for anything I would need. I shut my eyes tightly to keep the tears from spilling out. I couldn't let myself get trapped in my fear. I needed to think.

I took some deep breaths and felt my heart slow enough that I didn't feel like I was having a heart attack and took stock of our options.

I have two Pokemon. Both with a type advantage towards the Houndour. While I knew I probably couldn't take both on, one might be doable. Jace had five Pokemon. One I knew was his Caterpie and probably wouldn't be the most viable option in a situation such as this. He had a Pinsir and a Butterfree which was something I could work with. The Rocket only had three Pokemon out and only had three Pokeballs along his hip so we already had the advantage of intelligence. I need to know what Jace has up his sleeve. I pulled out my phone quietly and nudged Jace slightly with my elbow. He looked over and I pointed down towards my phone and he nodded.

I quickly typed out in my notes, "What other Pokemon do you have?" Jace bit his lip and looked at me for a second before taking the phone from me and typing back. "Pinsir is in the trees and Butterfree is flying in the canopy. I have a Venomoth and a Ledian. My last one is that Caterpie that you saw and it's not battle ready. Plus it was meant as a gift to a friend in Hoenn for a Nincada so I wouldn't want to use it anyways. But Cindy, what are you thinking of doing? This is some real shit that we stumbled onto."

I grabbed the phone back and typed out a response while making a few motions with my hands. "Rocket only has three from what I saw. I have a type advantage on two and you on the third. I'm confident that I can take on one of the Houndour by myself with Kong and Polli. We CANNOT just sit here and piss ourselves while those Heracross are over there being tortured and taken to who knows where." Jace once again grabbed the phone out of my hands and typed out a quick response. "Cindy, this is life or death. There are serious consequences to our actions right now. Your team and my team could get seriously hurt or even KILLED if we try anything. And we could as well. This isn't some group of things trying to take your lunch money, this is TEAM ROCKET. With a capital R. These guys won't blink twice if they kill us and our entire teams."

I looked back down at Kong feeling my confidence waver slightly. He stared back at me with nothing but acceptance and determination in his eyes. He nodded slowly toward me and clenched his paw into a fist. He wanted to fight. He wanted to help protect those Heracross that were at Team Rocket's mercy right now.

I typed back quickly, "Right now we have the numbers advantage. It would be two-on-one for each fight. But who knows how many there will be if we don't act now and just sit here scared. We can contact the Rangers on the Net and let them know what's happening. But like you said they have a long time to try and get here. By that time the Rocket could be gone or even more, might show up and then we're still going to be in the hot seat. I'm not going to watch Pokemon suffer just because I was too afraid to do something. You're either with me right now or not. But either way, once I contact the Rangers, I'm going in." I switched from my notes over to the Net and quickly pulled up the Ranger Response Ticket site. Typing in the situation I noted that we're currently engaged. Hopefully, that would make them hurry out here to take over where we left off. I sent it on its way and within ten seconds its status changed from submitted to responding.

Looking back towards Kong I nodded and pulled Polli's Pokeball from my strap. With my free hand, I pulled out an extra that I was going to toss at one of the other Heracross that were asleep and injured. I didn't want them to be hurt in the crossfire of our upcoming fight. I looked back over at Jace and saw him shake his head slightly before pulling some of his Pokeballs out as well. He looked over at me and gave a shaky thumbs-up that he was ready. I switched over back to my notes and typed in once more, "I'll take the Houndour that was with the Rocket. I'm going to try and catch one of those Heracross to remove it from the field. Can you do the same to the other?", he nodded and swapped one of his team with an empty Nest ball that he would use, "Okay. We're going to move on my mark. As soon as I move from the tree we go." I glanced once more around the tree and found the Rocket had moved closer toward the Heracross. He was still about ten feet away from them to keep from the remnants of the Sleep Powder but the Houndours had split off to check the perimeter. One was rustling around in the bushes upwind of us and I thanked my lucky stars that we had decided to use Repel on our walk through the forest. Without it, we would have already been noticed. I pulled back and checked the ticket that I had submitted. It showed a response had been sent and the ETA was thirteen minutes. I showed Jace and he swallowed hard before nodding slightly. I owed him a nice dinner after this.

Taking a long and slow deep breath, I grabbed Polli's Pokeball and whipped around the tree, "Polli! Watergun the Houndour!" Polli emerged from the Pokeball and immediately let loose an impressive jet of water from her mouth. The Rocket was startled by the sudden attack but reacted quickly by distancing himself from his Pokemon and moving toward the edge of the clearing. The Houndour that was closest was caught off guard and was clipped by the water, sending him sliding back a few feet. It sprung to its feet quickly and I knew this wasn't a battle that Polli would be able to fight on her own.

"Kong! Swagger!" Kong passed me into the fray and immediately jeered at the opposing Houndour. Its eyes widened before it growled viciously and tensed its body up in preparation to fight.

As soon as I had seen the Rocket scramble out of the way from the incoming attack, I threw the empty Pokeball as hard as I could at the Heracross that was closest to me. I saw the flash of energy encapsulate it but disregarded the capture process in favor of keeping my eyes on the fight in front of me. I heard Jace release a Pokeball and out of the corner of my eye noticed a Ledian crash into the Houndour on the opposite side of the clearing. Pinsir tore through the trees after it while Butterfree was keeping a Stun Spore at bay through the use of its Gust. I refocused on my fight and saw that Kong had intercepted a ball of fire from an Ember attack with the timely use of Protect. The Rocket's Houndour's eyes were bloodshot and it continued to fire Ember attacks to keep Kong at bay. Many of which were off the mark thanks to the confusion we had inflicted upon them. I noticed that the Rocket had moved further back into the brush to remain in the shadows of the trees. There was a sudden clicking noise and the Gloom switched between spore and powder attacks to lobbing globs of Acid into the skies towards Butterfree. It proved a nimble flier however as only the first came close from the surprise factor at the sudden change of attacks. There was a moment of pause when it was enveloped in a glowing purple aura before impacting the ground. It rose, damaged, but still capable of fighting, and glared up at its new adversary in the form of Jace's Venomoth.

"Kong! Close in with a Low Kick. Polli! Hit 'em with a Mud Shot to keep him busy!" My Pokemon did just that as Polli started firing large globs of mud trying to corral the Houndour. It worked, as while none of them hit, it kept him boxed in for Kong to fly into it with a Low Kick attack. Kong quickly launched a flurry of punches to the Houndour's body. I had been teaching him to add strikes between moves to keep the pressure on the opponent. And while he was no master yet, I planned on making him one of the best Boxers this world had ever seen. Two landed upon the Houndour's side and it slid backward upon the grass right into the path of an incoming Mud Shot from Polli. It rolled with the impact only to duck another strike from Kong as he waited for my next orders. I was about to give them when I heard a voice call out, "Houndour. Enough playing around. Howl."

The Houndour let loose a chilling howl into the air as Kong hopped backward to make some distance. It had seemed that the confusion from the Swagger had worn off and the Rocket was capitalizing on the boost in attack that it had gotten from it. I was about to order Kong to hit it with an Encore when the Rocket called out once more, "Taunt the Mankey. No more tricks." The Houndour lept at Kong and growled. There was no contact but the effect still worked. I could see Kong struggling to hold his anger in check as he leaped lightly on his feet, trying to fight the urge to leap at the Houndour in a frenzy of blows. Shit that wasn't good. Kong couldn't use Protect until the Taunt wore off and the Houndour had boosted its offense by quite a bit. Our win was now looking like it was crumbling away. It was time to even the playing field.

"Polli! Encore into Haze! Kong! Interfere with Houndour. Don't let it get the chance to focus!", Polli jumped up into the air and slapped the ground in her version of applause. The Houndour, who was in the motions of a Bite attack stopped and shook its head from side to side. It growled and snapped in the air trying to launch any offensive at King who was nimbly dodging out of the way of the frenzied attacks. It suddenly stopped and turned to face Polli. As soon as it moved its eyes off of Kong, he struck. A Low Kick into its side sent it rolling into a cloud splinter as it impacted heavily into a tree. It rose to its feet but couldn't rise quick enough to move out of the mist of Haze. Polli immediately pulled back and off to the side as Kong rushed in to deliver a series of blows to the Houndour. Two quick jabs and another kick sent it rolling backward towards the Rocket. It still lept to its feet after all of the hits it had taken but its breathing was labored and I could see its sides heaving for every breath of oxygen it could take.

While it wasn't out for the count, my Pokemon were more than a match for it. It seemed that the Rocket knew this as well as it quickly raised two objects and threw them out into the clearing. My heart sank as I recognized them to be Pokeballs and my blood ran cold once I saw what emerged from them.

Immediately in front of the Houndour, which was now starting to slow its breathing slightly, was a Flaffy. Its eyes locked onto Kong as it loosed a small bolt of electricity towards him. Unprepared to be facing a second foe it hit and Kong was sent flying backward in the dirt towards Polli. After a couple of feet, he stopped and rose with a bit of effort. For the most part, Kong was unharmed, but I noticed the small twitches in his arms. He couldn't take too many hits like that.

Off to the side and between the struggling Houndour and where Kong had risen emerged a Girafarig. It bellowed out a cry before squaring up to face off against us.

Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit!!!

What had been a battle that was to our advantage had suddenly morphed into a battle against impossible odds. Kong and Polli both didn't have the necessary stamina or experience to take on three opponents at once. And that wasn't mentioning a second stage evolution that had the type advantage over my long-range fighter. It was clear that this Rocket was a poacher. Flaffy and Gloom were wonderful support Pokemon to deliver debilitating statuses. With two Houndour and a Girafarig to be the muscle it formed into a nice roster for capturing wild Pokemon. The Rocket must have noticed my sudden paleness as he emerged from the bushes a bit more. He was tall, towering almost two feet above me. His face was covered in a mask but his eyes burned in anger as he stared daggers towards me and my team. He stopped and glanced down towards Hondour before huffing and looking back up towards me before speaking in a grave and slow tone.

"So…What will you do now girl? The odds have flipped," he waved his hands to the area between us. As he did so the Flaffy emitted a shower of sparks around it. "There's no chance in the world that you can take on my Pokemon. Yours may be trained well but they are new. It's easy to tell. There are openings missed and flaws to be exploited. These I can use while you are inexperienced to do so. You are facing death in the face right now girl." He paused before offering a hand. "But…you could give me your Pokemon. I promise that you will be able to leave alive even with my annoyance at your arrogance."

I swallowed hard past the sudden lump in my throat. I couldn't do that could I? Sacrifice my team for my safety? A shudder ran through me once more as I looked over at the Flaaffy sparking ominously. There was no way that we would be able to win a three-on-two. And it had only been about eight minutes since we had dropped the alert to the Rangers. Could we even stall for another five minutes?

Glancing over at Kong I could see that his fur had risen to stand on end. His paws were gripped so tightly that I thought he would break his bones if he wasn't too careful. He was downright furious at the offer and I could sense that the only thing keeping him from rushing forth in a frenzy was the fact that it would leave me open to an attack. Polli too slapped the ground with her tail before shooting a glob of water into the dirt in front of us. It seemed that my Pokemon would rather perish than be kept as slaves for Rocket.

A small smile found itself on my face as my nerves calmed almost instantly. There was still the feeling of a rock sitting deep in my gut but I no longer was feeling like I couldn't breathe. Whether we perished or not, I would always be there with my team. I shook my head and, surprising even myself, I laughed softly in amazement. Was this what it meant to be a trainer? To face death in the face and not falter? To gather your strength and grit your teeth in the face of the impossible? If so then I would do it gladly. There would be no separation between me and my team until the void claimed us. This Rocket could choke on a dick if he thinks I'm going to hand my Pokemon over after that.

At the sound of my laughter, he shook his head and sighed. "I guess I can take that as a no. It's a shame really, you've trained your Pokemon remarkably well and they would make very good assets for our organization. But alas, we have no use for those who are set in their ways." He waved his hand forwards and all three of his Pokemon began to advance upon us slowly.

I narrowed my eyes with my brain scrambling to come up with a plan. Anything that would keep us all alive for the next five minutes until the Rangers arrived. Unfortunately, my mind couldn't think quickly enough as the Flaaffy let loose a powerful Thunderbolt toward me. Polli lept in front of me and I recognized the shimmering green glow of Protect forming in front of us. The Thunderbolt impacted with a crack and I could see spiderwebs from across the barrier.

But it held.

And afterward, all hell broke loose.

The Rocket's Girafarig charged forward to face Kong and charged a beam of glowing pink and purple energy in front of it. I recognized it as a Psybeam attack from my countless hours of watching Sabrina's matches in the hopes of one day defeating her and knew we would be screwed if that landed. Kong leapt to the side narrowly dodging an Ember from the Houndour and made a hasty Protect as the beam launched forward into it. The barrier shattered, dissipating the beam of energy but leaving Kong open to the Electro Ball that slammed into him and sent him flying.

Polli placed herself firmly in between me and the incoming attackers. She switched from her barrage of Water Guns to firing off Mud Shots instead to try and use the type advantage against them. The Houndour dodged most of them only taking a slight hit to its shoulder that caused it to stumble slightly before it took off again after the falling Mankey. Flaffy erected a quick Light Screen that repelled any of the globs of mud that came too close to it and the Rocket. It seemed that it had both a balanced offense and defense which didn't bode well for us.

The Girafarig once again began charging up a beam when suddenly a shadow slammed into it at full speed. It flew back several feet and fell to rest about fifteen feet from its previous position. Standing in its previous location was Pinsir as it clicked its mandibles before dashing off once more to engage the Girafarig that had risen to its feet. Mere seconds later there was a rustle and Jace stood next to me with concern on his face.

"Cindy you okay? Sorry it took so long but that Houndour was well-versed in guerilla fighting. It took both Ledian and Pinsir together to finally flush it out of hiding." At the mention of its name, Jace's Ledian zipped from the forest behind us and stopped next to Jace. "I didn't expect him to have more Pokemon though, this complicates things. Ledian, Silver Wind." Ledian summoned a blast of powdered scales and launched it toward the Girafarig that was engaged with Pinsir. Girafarig saw it coming and quickly dashed to the side but was unable to dodge the follow-up Bug Bite from Pinsir. It screeched out from the pain and gave a hasty Stomp attack in return that Pinsir was able to tank as it slid away from the force of the impact.

"Butterfree and Venomoth are doing well containing the Gloom so we shouldn't have to worry about that. Pinsir is at about half-shape right now. He took a few attacks from the Houndour and that Girafarig looks tough. We can win it for sure but I'll be calling him back afterwards." Jace paused for a moment as he watch Kong dodge and trade blows with the Houndour that we had been facing. "I can either assist you with Ledian here or I can move to mop up the gloom to free up Venomoth and Butterfree. Pinsir will keep the Girafarig occupied for you but that Flaffy looks very strong." He glanced down at his watch to see the timer he had set, we only have to hold this guy off for another three minutes or so and then we can let the Rangers take over. Do you want help defending or should I stay on the attack?"

I once more took stock of my current situation. With Girafarig out of the way, we had an even numbers match up. Still that Flaaffy was a lot stronger than we were and we would have to split focus. I wanted to say that he could go take on the Gloom but the reality was currently different considering my level. I and my team were too weak to take on a threat this large at the moment.

"If you can get Ledian to take the Houndour or to help us fight the Flaaffy that would be best. We're struggling to keep up and we've taken a few hits. I know Polli and Kong have a lot of grit but we're still not up to this level of combat yet." As I said the words aloud I felt my face flush and I squeezed my eyes to keep the tears from falling. I can't believe that I was stupid enough to believe I could take on a Rocket this early on in my journey. They were nothing like they were in the games. They didn't just have a couple of Zubats and Ekans that I could dispatch with a few good hits. And while this Rocket may not be a rank-and-file one, he still didn't seem too high on the totem pole.

I was foolish.

I was ignorant.

The Rocket's Flaaffy launched another Thunderbolt our way that was more powerful than the last. Polli quickly put up a Protect but it shattered in an instant and the bolt landed true on her small frame. She screeched in pain and collapsed onto the ground laying still. Jace called out to his Ledian and it shot off into the fray but I heard nothing but the pounding of my heart in my ears as I stared at Polli's fallen form. She spasmed as the electricity wracked her nerves. Still, she tried to rise to her feet with great effort but it was clear she was struggling to do so.

It was at that moment that I felt something. A small piece of me reached out to her and she reached back. She wanted to protect me. To stay with me. To help me rise to the peaks of the tallest mountains. For strangers to know our names without ever having met us before. I could feel her wants. Her desires. Even her pain.

I could feel the coursing agony of electricity rippling through my nervous system. My limbs trembled from the phantom volts running through me.

Another piece reached towards Kong and my vision exploded into a deep red before everything came into a sharp focus. The anger of the one you swore to protect is being threatened. The anger at the weakness of yourself in being able to trounce her aggressor. The fury at the Rocket for attempting to strike down his partner. He would not stand for it. It was his pack. His tribe. He would not back down from this fight.

As Polli was able to rise to her feet she began to glow with a soft white sheen that covered her body. It began to glow brighter…and brighter. Soon all that was left in her place was a glowing sphere of pure energy. The wind began to rustle from the disturbance of the air, I covered my eyes from the sheer intensity of it. I managed to feel panic surge through Kong and felt his presence move in front of Polli. He used a Protect and managed to deflect a Thunderbolt that came flying from the Flaaffy. He dashed forward. His eyes locked on the Flaaffy that had dared to strike during such an important moment for his family. He channeled his natural Fighting energy into both arms and ran with all abandon at the Flaaffy. It didn't seem to have expected such a move and reared back a bit changing the trajectory of another launched Thunderbolt to crash into a tree nearby. Kong leaped and brought both of his arms down in fury into the side of Flaaffy. Unable to mount a proper response it was sent flying backward into the Rocket it had been defending.

They collapsed in a heap a few feet back from their previous position and scrambled to raise back to their feet.

It was then that I looked through my own eyes to witness the results of Polli's evolution into a Poliwhirl. She now had a much larger size than her previous form. With two short arms that had appeared upon her sides. Her eyes had grown further apart as well with her legs having grown slightly as well. She launched a vicious barrage of Mud Shots into the Houndour that Jace's Ledian had been fighting. Three found their marks in the Houndour's side and it collapsed and couldn't find the strength within it to rise again.

It was then that I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. The forest was…moving?

A ball of tightly compressed grass energy launched its way into the Girafarig and sent it rolling back toward its fallen trainer. Three Exeggutor emerged from the treeline with a pair of trainers behind them.

They wore red jackets and red caps, with faces that meant nothing but business. One shouted a command that I didn't quite make out and the other nodded. They split with one heading towards us and the other pushing forward to the Rocket who was running off into the forest in an attempt to escape. The Lone Ranger came up to us with an Exeggitor in tow. He was a middle-aged man, probably mid to late thirties. A scar ran across one cheek and ended right next to his eye.

"Recall your Pokemon. We're going to teleport you out of here in case things start to heat up. Y'all stumbled onto something pretty big and this part of the forest is going to be teeming with league forces in just a few minutes. We'd rather you be out of the way so there isn't any miscommunication between friends and foes right now." We did as he asked and recalled all of our Pokemon. Once we did he released a Pokeball revealing a Kadabra. He motioned towards it and we moved closer to its general vicinity. "You'll be transported directly to the Viridian Center where your Pokemon will be taken to be healed. You'll also be checked over and once you've been deemed in the clear, some people are going to want to talk to you. Just tell them everything you experienced here. Even if you think it isn't important, tell them everything, okay?" We nodded back and he gave a small nod to his Kadabra.

And in an instant, everything vanished.


And that wraps up Chapter 11! I hope y'all enjoyed! Next time we'll be out of the Forest and see exactly what was uncovered from Cindy and Jace's timely intervention in the Forest.

As always feel free to leave a review on your thoughts! I enjoy reading them so don't be shy! Im not quite sure when the next chapter will be coming as I've stalled from being so busy irl but I can assure that it is in progress!

And remember to hydrate! It's been unbelievably hot where I'm at so Im really learning the importance of hydration. If you plan to be outside a lot, make sure to drink water PRIOR to being outside. Your body needs a head start in order to remain hydrated in tough conditions so make sure to prepare!

Y'all have a lovely day!!