As a reminder, you can find MORE of this on my SubStar (dot adult slash KajaWilder), it's posted up past chapter 60 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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SOME TRIGGER WARNINGS in this chapter, mostly for violence. But it's a small, small taste of things to come. This is their first real run-in with Team Rocket Grunts (not a guy who's just toying with them). My Team Rocket are not comic villains, or road bumps that just happen to give xp. They are villains. It's gonna get worse...

Chap. 48: Blasting Off

Watching the two nearer members of Team Rocket jump and gape as Elle and Alex stood up to challenge them was worth the price of admission alone, she thought. Their three visible Pokémon, Squirt in her arms, with Spike and Cock flanking Alex, the Rock/Ground Type front and center of their little formation, she hoped they presented an imposing, intimidating sight.

"Stand down, and we'll let you go in peace," Alex told them, sounding stern and firm, strong. At least, to her ears.

Silence. Both of the two closer, darkly-dressed individuals stared, mouths open. They were both attractive, in a sort of bland way, Elle thought. The man was scruffy, with black hair beneath a beret, and had dark tattoos that detracted a great deal from the otherwise solid appeal granted by his bulky, powerful frame and chiseled jaw. The woman was muscular too, though not quite as solidly as the man, with a busty chest and hair that had been dyed pink weeks ago, enough that it was showing a significant mousy brown at the roots, though she was still pretty enough.

Then the man started laughing. Loudly, uproariously. Full-on, bent-over with his hands on his knees laughter. The woman joined in a moment later. The noise attracted the attention of the two more distant workers, one of whom said something Elle couldn't hear to the other, before he turned and started jogging away, down the twisting tunnel behind them.

"What's so funny?" she asked, glaring at the two Rockets and their Pokémon, "You've only got two Pokémon against three. And we have Badges."

If anything, the two Rockets started laughing harder, and the woman somehow choked out, "Get a load of this kid! Ha, ha, hah! She- she thinks Badges matter! Ha, ha!"

"Wh- Badges do matter," Alex snorted."

The man slapped his knee, "Sure, kid, sure, hah, what a buffoon!"

Then, suddenly, as if they had rehearsed it, both of the darkly-dressed individuals were all serious, standing tall. Even the woman was almost as tall as Alex, who was a full head above Elle, and the man a few inches taller still. She was the one who had spoken the most out of what they had overheard, and the speaker now, "You two are morons if you believe all the lies the Leagues tell you. Pokémon don't get stronger with Badges, that's ridiculous. They get stronger because they fight! Pokémon exist to fight, to get stronger. And our Pokémon fight all the time. Fending off wild Pokémon attacks, driving off stupid idiots like you who go where they're not wanted, and each other. They spend pretty much all day fighting, or fucking."

Elle blinked, a wave of confusion falling over her. "Koffing can fuck? Wh- How?"

The man rolled his eyes as he waved at his own Pokémon, "Koffing doesn't itself, it's got no gender, dumb girl. But plenty of other Pokémon Rocket has can and do. It just fights all the time, so it's even stronger!"

"Oh," she replied, actually feeling a bit dumber for having asked, but it had truly been strange to consider. Of course, knowing people as she did, Elle was equally certain someone out there- probably several someones- had tried it, and a few might've even succeeded. Somehow.

"Stupid kids," the woman scoffed, slashing a hand through the air, "Always poking your noses where it's not wanted. That new woman's team on the other side of the mountain is working great, but the morons on our side can't keep the riff-raff from getting in our way. Right?"

"Sure," the man agreed, "Well, I say we be nice and charitable, in return for the laugh. You two can go- back the way you came. It'll just cost you one Pokémon each. Your strongest, of course."

"I have a different proposal," Alex shot back at once, "You let us through, no questions asked, and you don't report anything to your superiors."

Almost as if they were twins, the two Rockets snorted together, smirking, "What'll it be, then? I think not, kid. Surrender one Pokémon, or we beat the stuffing out of you, and take all your Pokémon. You'll be put to work in the mines, never see the light of day again. This little cunt might do well working for Ariana in the brothel. She'll be force-fed drugs until she's a sex addict and stops trying to escape... usually takes about three days, I think. You won't last more than a month, though, soft as you look. Mines take it out of you, they say."

Elle could practically feel the hackles on Alex's neck rising after what the tattooed man had described as her fate if she didn't surrender, but she was still confident enough. "Counter-proposal, then: You surrender one of your Pokémon to each of us, and we don't break you."

"Tough words, kid," the woman laughed again, but this time it was a hard, merciless sound. "I don't know how you got this far, but it's as far as you're going. He's known in Team Rocket as The Wall, and I'm the one they call Scourge. I really don't think you two know what you're in for, but... suit yourself, I guess. Rattata: Crunch that Larvitar to dust!"

Alex's eyes widened, Elle saw it in slow motion as she threw herself to the side away from her lover, seeking distance to maneuver. The cavern they were in was large enough to battle in, but still only about a third of the size of the one where they had faced off against Morley Vaan's giant Alpha Golurk. It was, at least, wider than the tunnel earlier where they had fought two other Rockets not long ago. Her boyfriend reacted quickly, "Spike, slow it down with Rock Slide! Cock, hit it from the side with Double Kick!"

"Oh, no you don't," the woman snarled, producing another Pokéball from behind her back. It spun in the air to reveal a third Pokémon of their own, this one a familiar yellowish armadillo-like creature. "Sandshrew, you fight the Poison-type! It won't be great against you, so even Evolved you can probably win."

"Alex, look out," Elle cried, but he seemed to have things well in hand despite having a two on two match with no formal rules. And her? Well, she had other things to worry about herself.

"Smokescreen should be good to start us off, Koffing," the big man snarled, "Layer it on, nice and thick, so she can't hit shit with that squirt-gun of a Horsea."

Elle scowled. That was, indeed, a good tactic against Squirt, who was all offense. But she didn't have to make it easy, either, and had fought opponents who used similar abilities before. She had used it herself to earn her Skybound Badge, the one this man mocked. The Sparrowhawk himself had claimed her tactics against it had been good.

She wasn't going to fail here. Not now, not like this. "Smokescreen, make it just as hard for them to hit us, Squirt."

With both the Koffing and Horsea billowing dark clouds of vapor into the cavern, Squirt with more force but the Poison-type more volume by far, it didn't take long for both of the humans to lose sight of each other. In fact, Elle lost track of the battle completely, aside from herself and the Water Pokémon in her arms. But that was alright. Sound might be confusing too, with the weird acoustics in what should have been an abandoned mine, but she could handle this. Like her opponent, Elle was patient, and soon there was so much smoke in the air that it was hard even seeing the blue scales of her Pokémon. She started moving just before what would be the sixth round of smoke left her own Battler, carrying it quietly to the right and back, one arm held out to feel for the rocks she and Alex had just stepped from behind.

She wasn't going to take cover. At least, not for long.

Sure enough, from a half-dozen steps away, she heard a growl, "Sludge."

Elle's nose wrinkled at the acrid, noxious chemical smell that filled the chamber next, along with the sound of, she could swear, vomit hitting the pavement. Imagining it almost made her hurl too, but somehow she kept it down by trying to visualize what was actually happening, instead. "Alright, Squirt," she whispered, far quieter than the man had done, "aim- there. Right there... with Bubble Beam."

A few of the bubbles burst against the Koffing, but they seemed to be a glancing blow, since it didn't make a sound in response to being hurt. Elle scowled, and moved again. She felt for the rocks, and started climbing as quietly as she could. They were dark shapes against slightly lighter darkness. The sharp glow of the constructions lights had cast everything into stark relief before, but with the many applications of Smokescreen filling the area, Elle could barely make out the faintest of lighter spots above her, and a cluster of them further off, past the rocks, where the miners had been working. There was a little more sensory data coming her way, though.

The man's voice was quiet and hushed, nearly as quiet as her own, which made her a bit annoyed again at how loud Alex had been. If this brute could manage quiet, why couldn't her lover? "She's around here, Koffing... somewhere close. Get ready to Sludge. I don't care if you hit the guy, or any of the Pokémon, but don't hit her. I want a piece of that pussy while she's still cute and tight."

Elle frowned, her blood running cold at the casual mention of not just enslaving her with drugs in a brothel, but raping her himself. This man was a monster. She was near the top of the rocks then, climbing quietly over the eight-foot or so pile, moving only inches at a time to try her best to remain silent.

She still nearly jumped out of her skin when, just feet away, a round shape blotted out the nearest overhead mining lamp as it moved silently through the cloud of gas. The Koffing, shit... that was close. I'm amazed it didn't see me!

It was so close she could have reached out and touched it, but it was apparently just as blind as she was, and the light was behind it, not her. If it hadn't been, likely the situation would have been reversed. She barely resisted the urge to sigh in relief, and waited until it was well and truly out of sight, then, "Water Gun its back."

This time, the high-pressure jet somehow struck a better angle, and she heard the Koffing hiss in pain. She started moving at once, but still not fast enough. Amid the sounds of Alex's pitched battle a dozen or so feet away, far more frenetic than her own despite being just as blinded by the gas as she and her opponent were, she couldn't hear the sound of goo being spat back in her direction. She barely heard it hit the rocks where she had just been standing, and most certainly could not have heard or predicted several splashes heading her way.

But she felt it, and Squirt did, too. The little Horsea caught the brunt, fortunately for her arms, as a line traced its way across her body and its face. The stuff burned, caustic and painful like acid, and Elle hissed in pain, too.

"Got you," the man chuckled, "Sludge again, Koffing, right there, at the top of the rocks!"

Elle ducked just in time, practically threw herself down the scree, but she reasoned a few bruises and scrapes were well worth not having a face-full of whatever that stuff was. It still tingled and burned several seconds later, and she could hear Squirt wheezing. Had it inhaled some? It felt almost like regurgitated stomach bile, only on her outer skin, which should have been tougher. It smelled like it, too, she thought, and again had to fight the urge to vomit. "Shit, Squirt, I'm sorry, baby, tough it out for now, I'll get you an Antidote as soon as I can. For now, we have to take that guy out- do it with another Bubble Beam- there!"

She missed, completely, judging by the man's laughter.

"Watch it," Alex shouted from somewhere in the haze, "you almost nailed Spike!"

"S- Sorry!" she called, "I can't see you!"

"No shit," she heard her lover grumble, "it's almost like you favor this tactic or something... Some of us hate it, you know?"

Elle grinned. He was such a stick in the mud, but she loved him anyway.

It went back and forth like that for a long time, with Elle retreating every time she made a move in the gunk that hid everyone from, well, everyone else. Squirt kept blasting off one Water Gun or Bubble Beam, her two strongest moves in general, but wasn't having much success. Aiming was, after all, next to impossible.

On the other hand, aside from the one Sludge that had gotten both her and her Horsea, her opponent had barely hit her, too. She was starting to feel confident she could wear him down when the scruffy Rocket man laughed from a good distance off, "Yeah, I think her Pokémon's been Poisoned too, Koffing. Don't worry, we'll go find the cunt soon enough. For now, why don't you Rest, she got lucky and landed a fair few hits."

Rest? Shit. That's gonna make it hard to outlast him... See, Alex? This is why I don't use your tactics. Someone's always got something up their sleeve. Better if I can control the battle my way. Fuck. What'm I gonna do...

Elle moved again, still trying to maintain her stealth as she crept around the battlefield. That stealth was ruined as she bumped into something almost the exact same shade of charcoal gray as the smoke that was now stinging her eyes something fierce. It clanged and rattled, and something inside it shifted, rolling like rocks down a slope.

She acted without thinking, and snagged a small handful of whatever was in the container she had bumped, then bailed, clutching her prize in one hand. "Sludge on the cart, Koffing! She's right there!"

This time, Elle got only a few droplets on the back of her backpack, which sizzled for a bit, but didn't feel pain from it before she disappeared into the smoke once more.

She tried calling back another attack too, triangulating from where she thought the goo might have come from, but... "Shit. Squirt? Squirt, buddy, sweetie, why aren't you... fuck, Poisoned. You fainted... fuck..."

"Got you now. That pussy's gonna feel real tight the first dozen or so times, isn't it?" the big man growled, somehow suddenly behind her, as a meaty hand landed on her shoulder.

Alex scowled after telling Elle how much he hated Smokescreen. His fight had been fair enough at first. Cock and the pink-haired woman's Sandshrew were not a good match for him, but his Starter was several Battle Ranks higher and at the second Evolution stage, so just on raw power it was capable of taking quite a lot of damage compared to the smaller Armadillo-like Pokémon. Of course, Sandshrew had started by concealing the Nidorino in even more cover by sending a swirl of sand around him with Sand Tomb, which whittled away at Cock with tiny abrasive sand particles at high speed, and then switched to Swift, which somehow kept up the damage even though he was barely hitting anything, barely able to see.

When Cock hit, he hit the Sandshrew hard, but the little ball kept bouncing back. The one saving grace, he thought, was that it didn't seem to actually have any Ground-type moves aside from Sand Tomb to capitalize on its typing against his Starter. As it was, they seemed to be more or less evenly matched. Which could have boded poorly, but he had more Pokémon if he had to. He still didn't want his Starter going down too early though, so he tried to keep a careful eye through the haze that burned in his vision. If the larger Pokémon started showing signs of fatigue or injury, he would pull him back as soon as possible and send someone else out. He could wear this lady's aggressive style down easily enough... it was just the smoke making things annoying, he thought.

The other side of the battle was, if anything, a little more one-sided. By numbers, the Rattata should have been at a significant disadvantage against Spike, whose hard shell protected it against most physical attacks. But something about the little Mouse's teeth glimmered with darkness whenever it used Crunch or Bite, and they were leaving scars and cracks all over the robust Larvitar's mineral shell.

In other words, despite Spike having a type advantage on paper, he was getting his butt kicked by the Rattata's speed and sheer damage potential.

Of course, it wasn't completely one-sided. Spike had only landed one solid hit through the haze, a well-timed Rock Slide at the top of the fight before the visibility had dropped all that much. Alex hadn't seen too much visible effect aside from the little purple-furred rodent sent sprawling, half-buried under stones before it had squirmed its way free, but his Pokédex registered the creature's health at just over half. Another hit like that, and maybe a weaker one, and it would Faint.

At least, according to the rules of the game. If he could land that hit.

Spike was fierce, he was strong, but he wasn't that accurate. Excellent at taking a hit, but Dark seemed to go right through his shell. His Defense statistics, according to the 'Dex, were still quite high, but probably not enough to counter the Rattata's focus on just two things instead of three or four.

Which mean that he should change tactics.

Tanking hits was all well and good, but Alex was not above saving his team unnecessary damage. He had no doubt Spike could win, if he had just a little luck with timing and aim.

But at what cost?

"Return," he told Spike quietly.

The Larvitar grumbled, but vanished into gray light that was nearly invisible in the smoke.

"Calling him back?" the pinkette taunted cruelly, "Shitty Pokémon for a shitty Trainer, you should just give up. Save him the pain. He's gonna serve Rocket either way, even if he's too weak to claim myself."

"I think not," Alex replied, hoping he had the direction the woman was in right. "Besides, can't you count? Or didn't you get a good enough look? I'm not carrying two balls on my belt, lady, and neither is Elle carrying one."

"Elle?" he heard, then, more amused than anything, "My partner's gonna be annoyed he can't have too much fun with her before we ship her off. That's someone our current boss is looking for. And that must make you Alex."

"What of it?" he replied, and sent out Lingus to fight the other Normal-type. "Smash that Rat down with Rollout, Lingus."

"Oh, nothing," she called back along with an order of her own for Hyper Fang, switching tactics with his new Pokémon, "and I'm not worried about your numbers, kid. See, even if we lose, Rocket's gonna win. We just gotta soften you up. And what do you think we're doing? Not that my buddy's gonna lose to your pipsqueak of a fucktoy. You'd do better with a real woman, but whatever, not my business what you wet your cock in. Maybe you like your Cock more, anyway. Isn't that what you named your Starter? That one is almost worth keeping. One Moonstone and I'd be able to advance to Agent, you know?"

"I don't care about the ranks of your stupid team," Alex growled, "Press the attack, Lingus- but do it on the Sandshrew! Cock, Double Kick on the Rattata!"

"What the- fuck! Change up, you two! Pursuit on the pink thing, don't let it get away! Shrewmee, keep up the Swift, but keep targeting the Nidorino!"

Alex grinned. His distraction had worked. Borrowing a page from Elle had helped, at least in a situation where his opponent couldn't see him. His instructions came quickly and quietly, and shapes moved into the smoke in several directions at once.

Now, he was definitely going to win.
This wasn't a formal Battle.

He didn't have to follow the rules. This was a Free Battle, like when they fought wild Pokémon. He didn't have to behave as if it was, and Alex wasn't going to. Dirty, underhanded, maybe.

But if it worked for Elle...

"Ah, ah," the man chuckled darkly, his other hand snatching Elle's as she reached for her belt, "No other Pokémon for you. Koffing, get ready to Sludge this little slut if she screams. Right in her pretty little mouth. Make her useless for Ariana, but I don't care, it'll shut her up, right? And you, little lady- why are you giggling?"

Maybe he thought she was crazy. Elle didn't care.

She didn't like him touching her. She really didn't like how his dick was pressing against her back despite being in a battle. Or how he'd talked about her and his plans for her. She had liked, even less, hearing what the woman had just said moments ago about their new boss looking for her and Alex in particular.

But she still knew something he didn't.

"I don't need to reach my Pokéballs to take you out," she told him. "That's why I'm laughing. You should let go, before I become the stuff of your nightmares."

"What're you gonna do, slut?" he laughed, then pulled her close against him, one hand drifting down to grab her left tit across her neck.

"Oh, probably not much myself," she told him, "and you should really let go. Treat a lady nicely. This is your last warning."
"Psh, you got nothin' I can't- wait. Wh- What's that?"

Elle grinned at the macabre, horrifying teet and mouth that appeared out of the smoke. All that was visible, in fact, aside from the ghastly, terrifying eyes that shone with malevolent light. "I told you, the stuff of your personal nightmares."

"Wh- wh- K- Koffing!" the man shouted, somehow clutching Elle even more tightly, almost as if he was trying to use her as shield, while he suddenly backpedapled, "G- Get that thing! Fuck, I don't care, just blow it up with Self Destruct! Get it away from me!"

Elle's eyes widened.

Self Destruct was...

Well, in a word, an asinine, stupid move. It was exactly what it sounded like, a suicide shot.

And the Koffing listened, no doubt trained to know it would be Revived soon enough, or at least treated in a Pokémon Center.

It glowed white, hovering just over her head.

Elle whimpered as she looked up.

She felt the man behind her do the same. "Oh, fuck, not- not so close!"

Boom.

Only Elle didn't feel it.

Her hair rustled in the wind, but there was no real explosion of force. Light, sound, and wind, but... Instead, the sharp smell of ozone filled the air along with the odor of the smoke.

The flash of light was intense, all-encompassing, and it made her eyes hurt even worse.

But she felt no pain, only... the hairs on her arms standing up.

"Wh- What the fuck?"

"That wasn't Self Destruct," Elle gasped, "That was-"

Another sharp crack and flash of light, as her own Starter used a move he had struggled to learn since she and Alex had been training for their first successful Gym Challenges.

"Thunderbolt."
"Oh, shit," the man shouted, and suddenly threw Elle away from him. She stumbled and hit the ground. It might've saved her life.

Somehow, the meaty splat of the man being thrown back across the mine cart, and who knew what else, had the stark sound of finality to Elle, and she knew he had not survived.

She tried to feel remorse as she stood up, ears ringing, head pounding from too much smoke inhalation, and the concussive blast that might have levelled a small house, or destroyed a car.

Fortunately, even in the disoriented state, made more confusing by her lack of vision, Elle made out three points of orientation. The lights behind her were where they were going next. Alex's shouts of her name were a second.

And the third, glorious, entirely unhurt by the blast, the cute-but-scary face of her Gastly, cackling madly after its total success.

Self Destruct, after all, was Normal-type, and he was completely immune. "I'm here," she called out to Alex, "I'm- I'm not fine, but I'll live!"

"I got this one," he shouted back, somehow just audible through the ringing in her ears, "Maybe go check on that other guy if you can, or sit tight!"

Surtr's hooves crashed down on the Rattata's back an instant before Shooter blasted it with Psybeam. A moment after that, Cock's hind legs hit it full-force, the greater mass sending the Rat Pokémon into a crumpled heap.

"You've lost," he told the woman, "It's over."

"It's not- I still have my- Shrewmee!"

Alex raised an eyebrow as the smoke started to clear, just a little. Lingus had the little ball on the ropes, now. She sported a dark red spot, a powerful bruise forming in the shape of huge teeth from the Rattata's Pursuit shortly after she had been called out, but his roly-poly Pokémon was a hardy sort, too, and took it like a champ. Once it engaged the much smaller Sandshrew, she basically had total control of the fight. She had used Rollout successfully three times, and only when the fourth missed had he changed commands. By then, the Sandshrew, closer to him than the woman, was on its last legs. "Stomp," Alex called at the end, and he watched as Lingus knocked it out with one more blow to the head.

Now, there was just him and her, and six Pokémon, all still fighting fit if a bit worn down. "See, I know how to handle agro types like you," Alex told her with a growl as he stalked toward her silhouette. "Let you wear yourself out. You can tank in a ton of ways. Minimizing damage, avoiding damage, healing through it, all work great. But another way is just to spread that damage out. Now I have six Pokémon, and you're done, like I said. So surrender."

"N- Never," the woman grunted, then tried to run past him.

Alex caught her quickly, one arm circling her waist (he only accidentally groped one firm, round breast, but at least had the decency to let go before he could enjoy it), and spun, tossing her to the ground. She landed on her side, and rolled to her rump, then lifted both hands to fend him off, her expression defiant.

That defiance crumbled when she saw the sheer number of Pokémon around her. "Now, you're going to answer my questions. And answer them well."

"F- Fine... I'll... I'll talk. Fuck..."

"First, tell me about the boss who knows our names."

"Everyone in Rocket knows your names now," she scoffed derisively, "since an up and coming Operative has taken an interest. That's our boss, by the way. He-"

Her sound was cut off with a loud crack, and a flash of light made Alex wince.

Then there was another.

Alex leaned in, "Tell me that again."

The woman spat, not at him but at the ground, "F- Fine, I- just, call them off! Fuck, man, I don't-"

A third crash, louder, fiercer, brighter, knocked Alex to the ground along with several of his Pokémon.

When he got his feet under him again, the woman was gone, the sound of pattering feet on the stone path they had just come up drowned out by the ringing in his ears. "Elle? Elle!"

Fortunately, his hammering heart was relieved by the tinny reply.