As a reminder, you can find MORE of this on my SubStar (dot adult slash KajaWilder), it's posted up past chapter 90 there... And if you guys haven't seen an update in at least a week, please let me know! I have a busy life, and I get distracted and forget things. This story (and PTaL) are supposed to be updated WEEKLY from now until they're both caught up with each other (like I was doing with FwB until this weekend).

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Chap. 60: Consequence

"You fucked up," the big man growled as he released two Pokémon. Adisa frowned, or her existing frown deepened as she saw a massive Ekans and a Sandslash appear. "You could've just walked away, and Rocket might've let you go. Not like we invested a lot of time and effort in training a dupe like you. But now you've gone and made this personal by putting one of ours in the hospital."

"Clarke's a piece of shit," Adisa answered back, her own team already out and raring to go. They'd been eager for the fight for two days now, since she'd let the three girls he had been perving on the most chase him out of the area and back to Cerulean with several serious injures. "and he deserved what he got. Anyone who tries to get off on kids deserves what they get."

The other man snorted, while his partner snickered. The first man was a hulking brute who moved with the grace of an animal, but the second was a tall, slender man with a long mustache that didn't suit his tousled blonde hair, and who walked with a more awkward, stumbling gait. "What're you talkin' about? These kids? They asked for it. You know, you're a really dumb bitch. Vaan's right, you aren't worth keeping around any more. Stupid invaders think they can come in here, to our world, and tell us what to do, how to live. Fuck… arrogant cunt."

"Invaders?" One of the boys asked, sounding confused, "What do you mean? Isn't she from Kanto?"

"Fuck," the tall man laughed, "No, you stupid shit. Just shut your mouth, this doesn't concern you. All of you, stand back and stand down. We're here to teach this cunt a lesson and send her back where she came from. You get involved, Rocket will end you, too."

"You'd better leave her alone," Monroe, the oldest of the teens in her care, a young man of seventeen, shouted from the center of the gathered youth who were, at least, ostensibly recruits for Team Rocket.

"Or what?" blondie growled, pulling out his own pair of Pokéballs, one in each hand, "You kids think you can take on real rockets? Puh-lease. You aren't good enough to scrape off the bottom of my shoe."

"Stay out of this," Adisa commanded them, "This is my problem. All you'll do is make trouble for yourselves. And you two… if you want a fight, fight me."

"Gladly," the bigger man growled, "That's what we're here for, after all: to put an invader in her place. Completely off this mortal coil! Ekans, go right, and Sandslash, left! Take her team out!"

Adisa issued her own commands just as quickly. Machop and Geodude went after the huge purple serpent, while Vulpix and Houndour, both Fire-types, were sent after the Sandslash. Foolish, perhaps, but Adisa had a plan. "Geodude, Bulldoze! Machop, Vital Throw! Vulpix, Quick Attack, and Houndour, Bite- but watch those spines, go for his underbelly!"

"Wh- Don't let them hit you, Sandslash! Tuck in and use Rollout yourself!"

Adisa's eyes widened. She hadn't expected such a strong move from Rockets. Especially not one that would be extremely effective against her two Fire-types. It wasn't even a Ground, which was the Sandslash's type!

But as the goldenrod-yellow ball of spikes began to roll toward her charging Houndour, she still had a plan… if it worked. It was riskier now, but she thought it might well still work. Maybe. "Vulpix, come up behind it, Quick Attack to chase it down and smash it with an Ember when it stops rolling around! Houndour, Howl- then switch out for the Ekans!"

She was well familiar with Rollout herself thanks to Geodude, so even though it had been a surprise to see it, she could counter most of its worst effects with some quick thinking. At least, that was the plan. The Sandslash wasn't all that fast, though a little quicker than her Rock Pokémon, so her quick reactions were enough to give Houndour a chance to lunge to the side. Just in the nick of time, too, before the larger Ground-type barreled through where it had been standing a moment before. It didn't slow down, of course. In fact, it sped up, but she had known that would be the case… until it stopped and uncurled with a bounce, wondering why it hadn't hit anything.

As its long claws furrowed in the soft, much-used dirt of her usual battle circle, Vulpix was suddenly behind it. The agile little fox-Pokémon jumped clear over the Sandslash, using her back legs on its head to spin and change her facing mid-air. She landed four feet in front of the Sandslash, facing directly at it. It raised its claws menacingly.

"Ember!"

It wasn't all that powerful a technique, of course, though it was her Vulpix's strongest, but what came from the fierce little creature's mouth was not a thin stream of sparks and flames. It was instead a churning, roiling sphere of fire that looked more like a miniature sun six inches across. A sun which flew through the air straight at the Sandslash's vulnerable front.

It tried to raise its sturdy claws to protect itself, but it was too late. The sphere impacted, and burst into a rain of napalm-like liquid that splashed around the immediate area, just missing both her Houndour and Vulpix both. Where it did hit, the soil and grass burned and sizzled, starting several small fires that thankfully petered out quickly. "Awesome," Adisa grinned.

The Sandslash was still standing, its typing alone enough to largely shield it from the damage, but she knew the attack had still hurt quite a lot. "Houndour, keep up the Howl, but go after the Ekans with a Bite! Machop, on the Sandslash!"

Her humanoid Fighting-type had been trading jabs and kicks with the snake, whose head darted in and out rapidly, but neither seemed able to get much purchase, and Geodude, slower than the rest, was just getting to the fight. But Adisa didn't mind, as far as she was concerned, that battle was over. She hadn't had time to use her Pokégear to scan most of the combatants, but she had gotten a read on the Ekans. It was Battle Rank twenty-one, two lower than her own team's weakest… though that was shared between all of them that weren't Machop, who was three higher now.

Geodude, with a type advantage in Ground, and Houndour for his sheer offensive ability, would crush it soon enough.

The Sandslash was an unknown, but if she had to guess, it was this Rocket's Starter, and a few levels higher, at least.

Sure enough, another gout of flame was exhaled by the Dark-Fire type, blasting and searing the Ekans along its right flank as the speedy hound got within range. It barked almost happily as he and Machop passed each other, and her own Starter's grin was equally fierce, though he seemed more angry than amused as one fist was grinding into the other palm while his short little feet churned. Geodude was rolling now too, making a wide circle as he prepared for his own Rollout. If he was smart and went for the long way, it would be hard to miss the Ekans, even if it wouldn't do quite as much damage as a head-on strike.

Either way… that battle was over.

Vulpix leaped to the side, too late to completely dodge one of the Sandslash's long, razor-sharp claws, which raked a bloody streak down her side in three lines. She hissed and spat, but stood still, if a little shaky, and started inhaling for another one of the new Fire attacks, whatever it had been.

The Sandslash didn't seem eager to give it another chance. It was scorched and blackened along its front, and wincing in pain as it charged toward her again.

Then Machop was there. He went for the Low Sweep first without any commands, spinning quickly enough to make the enemy stumble, even if he didn't fall. It was enough time for Vulpix to get more distance, at least.

"Machop, one more quick hit, then back off!"

"Bulldoze, Sandslash!"

The second Flame Burst hit him in the face as he ducked low, the goldenrod Pokémon's arms stretched wide. He flinched back, shrieking as well, while the splattered ooze peppered Machop's arms, too. He grunted, but it didn't seem to slow her started down a bit. Instead, he went for another sweep, but the attack didn't get through to connect.

It had been impeded by a nine-inch wall of earth kicked up by the Sandslash's burrowing claws. A wall that got wider and higher, longer, with amazing speed as it charged forward, gathering an impossibly large amount scraped off the ground itself.

Then, already towering over her Vulpix and well over Machop's head too, the Sandslash stopped running and gave the wall another final shove. Adisa cried out in worry… a Ground attack from a Ground Pokémon might well knock her already-injured Vulpix out.

Indeed, she wasn't looking very good when her little orange snout appeared a moment later.

Then in a spray of soil, she was clear, and deposited safely on the freshly-turned ground to shake herself clean as much as she could while her savior, Machop, finished pulling himself free, too. He cracked his neck twice, glowering at the Sandslash.

"Ch- Chop," he growled.

Adisa had no way to translate, of course, but she could tell he was angry. Angrier, perhaps, than he had ever been. If she had to guess what he was saying, it would've been, "This could have been a friendly beat-down, but when you try to kill my friends…"

Then he blurred forward, tackling the larger Pokémon around the middle. Sandslash was pushed back several feet, but Machop wasn't just doing a basic move. Adisa winced in sympathy for the creature, which was already quite hurt itself. Machop was making sure this particular fight was over, too. Whoosh, up they went!

Adisa's grin was probably as fierce as her Pokémon's as she watched the startled, surprised Rocket follow the upward path a good fifteen, maybe twenty feet. Then they spun mid-air so the Sandslash was spines-down, with Machop pummeling the poor thing's soft snout with one hammer-sized fist, and the other holding it in place by the shoulder. She knew without seeing it his feet were active too, repeatedly alternating kicks that wouldn't do much damage individually, but that would add up as they fell. Two seconds to impact…

To her right, Geodude finished off his Rollout with a bang, smashing straight into the Ekans for what she thought was the second or third time, while Houndour tossed its lower half back and forth with a continued Bite. That was all she had time to see, though, before the other two landed with a loud whump that she felt through her feet even from a dozen feet away.

Machop stood tall over the body of the Sandslash, which twitched twice, then went still. "Chop!" he roared, then held out one hand toward the Rocket. His fingers twitched together, and unmistakable gesture to 'come on!'.

"Fuck," the Rocket gasped, "R- Rio! Rio, they fuckin' just killed my team!"

"Loser," the blonde muttered, turning away from the children he'd been threatening, "I can't believe I got partnered with a weakling like you. And no names, idiot!"

Cowed, amazed, the bigger man stepped back as the tall blonde, Rio she supposed, came toward her with an arrogant sneer. "Well, that's alright. I'm not like this loser. I can actually fight. Tell you what, invader… you can choose. We can free for all, or we can one on one, a real Battle, the way the gods intended. I'm fine for either."

She didn't fancy her chances in a wild bout like the last one with an evenly-matched team… especially if this Rio was actually the stronger of the two. So she swallowed, nodded, then replied, "A Battle sounds fine. Usual one on one?"

"No, your full team against mine," the Rocket snorted, "Just one at a time. Six second rounds, switching takes a round, all that. And your items? Knock yourself out… I know it's been three weeks since you've had a resupply."

Adisa paled. He was right. Her team was quite strong, but Morleys' was stronger still, and if this man's was anywhere near his, without healing Potions or even stronger, she was about to get curbstomped in turn.

"Let's begin," Rio said with a sadistic grin, "What's your first Pokémon?"

"I- I'll go with Geodude." She had to, he was the most fresh.

The grin only grew wider, though. "Fair enough. I've got a Grass, though, unfortunately for you. Go get 'em, Tangela."

Oh, crap. She recognized that tentacled monstrosity from too many real-world Hentai. This… this was not good.

Elle panted as she finished jogging, slowing to a walk. Robin and Alex had both encouraged her to join them for some physical exercise themselves as opposed to their Pokémon doing all the work. "It'll raise your Battle Rank," Robin had informed them, "plus, you know, it's a real body, so you should take care of it. You'll actually grow faster than you would as a human, too, since you're Combinants right now."

That hadn't convinced her, though it had helped.

Imagining how Alex had reacted to Brigid Stirling's body, fit and hard as it had been, helped a little… but only a little, because Elle knew she would never look like that aside from sharing a hair color.

But watching their Pokémon, all sixteen of them including the Water-types, try and join in had done it. She couldn't, wouldn't, let them leave her behind. Even if the Magikarp had been beyond useless as it flopped around desperately, the buckets Robin had convinced Alex to carry (resistance training, of course) that held water Squirt and Shooter had conjured had been enough to at least let them swim around with them.

Still, when the trio had come across a small pond in the center of the park they were using as a training field along with a few dozen other Trainers spread throughout, they were instructed to run laps there, instead, while the rest continued their run.

It was torture.

But, she had to admit, she did feel a bit… Better. Somehow.

Exhausted, but almost in a good way. "Fine," she wheezed, "Fine, I'm out of shape. I admit it."

"Good," Robin chuckled, "Acceptance is the first step to healing, they say. Now, just imagine a cute girl like you having a firm and fit body instead of being soft. Isn't that sexy?"

Elle couldn't help but give the too-bubbly rosette a stink-eye, "Is sex all you think about?"

"Not everything, no," she laughed, "but I think about it a lot."

Alex was breathing hard too, though not as hard as she was, when he asked, "How are you not even winded?"

Robin grinned, "Bigger lungs. I changed them over the walk over here. Subtle stuff you can't see is easier to change, not sure why. I can basically make my metabolism run faster or slower, or increase or decrease stamina, stuff like that, pretty easily. Gross changes- changes to shape- take longer. Just changing my eye or hair color takes like five minutes. Growing my dick takes an hour. If I was gonna full-on go to a male, it might take five or six hours."

"Huh. Sounds like cheating."

She only smiled wider and opened her mouth as she turned to walk backwards around them, "I also don't have a gag reflex, 'cause I trained it out of myself with my own dick, so… is that cheating?"

He turned a little green, but Elle could also see his shorts start to tent. "I'd like to see that some time," she muttered, "at least if we don't decide you're gonna screw us over. I still don't trust you."

"That's fair," Robin shrugged casually, fully aware Elle couldn't see her as she was behind the girl presently, "and I can assure you I won't until I'm blue in the face, but we all know actions speak louder than words. So when the chips are down, you'll see who's side I'm on: Mine. And as long as mine coincides with yours and, to a lesser extent GF's, then we're good as far as I'm concerned. So… we up for Battle training, yet? I've heard the Ice Gym's actually easier, but it's a pretty potent type overall, so we should be ready for anything with either Gym."

"I think we might have bigger problems," Alex muttered.

Elle looked up to see him watching someone behind her, and turned. Her eyes widened, too.

There were two Team Rocket members standing thirty or so feet away, black uniforms and all, clearly watching them intently. Between them, one in each arm with a pistol held to the head of either one, were the Sugimoto siblings, Kinta and Megumi. Both, predictably, looked terrified.

Team Rocket, armed with guns, right there in broad daylight in a semi-crowded park… with hostages.

Elle couldn't blame them. Suddenly, she was, too.

"Time for us to have a chat, courtesy of Morley Vaan," the woman, who at least was the one with a firm hand around Megumi's upper arm, called with a low voice. "And Team Rocket."

"Fuck," Alex exhaled. She had to agree with that sentiment, too.