You can find more of this on by Subscribe/Star (dot adult slash KajaWilder), it's posted past Ch. 120 there. You can find the same on my new (via Discord per their ToS), under /WildErotica. The DISCORD is at h-t_t-p_s-:_/-/_discord-._g-g_/-N9yDASt6Cw (taking out hyphens and underscores, 'cause FFnet). If you prefer direct links, go to my Discord and follow the 'links in general' section to find the ones you want. All of my fics are well ahead of what I post here, often 10-30 chapters ahead.

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Enjoy!

Chap. 90: Faded Mist(y)

"Talk?" the petite red-head squirmed in the air, her feet now two feet off the ground, "Let me go, then we can talk! I don't talk with kidnappers as a general rule!"

Alex laughed harshly, "Been kidnapped often, have you? Developed rules for it?"

"As a matter of fucking fact, yes," the girl snarled, twisting and squirming again, "It only took once, though, fucker!"

While the knowledge that, were it true, this girl had been kidnapped previously gave him pause, but before he could order his Lickitung to release her, Elle pointed out, "We haven't gone anywhere, so you haven't been kidnapped. This is our campsite, remember? We caught someone lurking about, spying on us. Maybe scoping us out to attack, or steal something."

"S- Steal?!" the girl almost shrieked, her face suddenly twisting into a furious snarl, "I'd never do that! If you had any idea who I am, you'd know that!"

"Then tell us," Alex said quietly, ignoring her growing rant and forcing himself to project calm with his hands clasped before himself. Not folded defensively, not raised to attack or defend, but there in a hurry if he needed them. "Because that's question number one. Who're you?"

"I'm Misty fucking Waterflower, bitch! Now, let me go!"

"Right," Robin snorted, "You're Misty Waterflower, and I'm Lance Grayson. Sure."

"I am!"

Alex rolled his eyes, "Sure, sure, Misty. I'm Alex, this is Elle and Robin. You've met Lingus. Next question: Why were you snooping around?"

The young woman, who had stiffened but otherwise gone still to glare at him while he spoke, growled again, "Snooping? I was not snooping! I was here when you got here! I'm waiting for my- for my boyfriend! I thought you might've been him, so I was just checking! Then I left, when I saw you weren't!"

"You were checking for half an hour, to see if three people were your boyfriend?" Robin asked next. "Seems fishy."

'Misty' growled, "We have an- an open relationship, okay? I had to make sure none of you were him, and it was, well, misty! I had to get close enough to see each of you!"

That's a lie, Alex realized, but only the first part. Maybe she was worried about him cheating... that would explain the snooping. If there's an actual boyfriend.

While he was thinking, the girl started squirming again, "Seriously, let me go! Let me go, or you'll be sorry!"

"I'm very sure," Alex drawled, "You seem kind of helpless, right now. I'm not sure how we'll be sorry."

"Ooh, if I had my Pokémon right now, I'd crush you," she replied with a hiss, "My Blastoise alone would-"

"Ooh, a Blastoise?" Elle grinned, "Those are cool. Buuu~uut, you don't have it, do you? I mean, Lingus' tongue is covering up a lot of you-"

"I know, and it's so slimy and gross! Please, just let me go!"

Elle continued as if she hadn't been interrupted, "but I think it's reasonable to assume you would've drawn a Pokémon out to defend yourself when they caught you. So let's work under the assumption that you don't have any actual power. Even if you were the actual Misty Waterflower- which I don't think you are- you'd still be powerless right now. Is that right?"

'Misty' glared down at the blonde, but said nothing.

Alex grunted, "I'll take that as a yes, then. Listen, we aren't bad guys. We're not trying to extort you, or steal from you. But look at it from our point of view. Here we are, out in the middle of nowhere, three consenting people having a good time… and there's some creeper sneaking around, spying on us. I think we deserve some answers. We have to be able to say, 'yeah, I feel safe with this person around, and we can let her go.' Would you agree with that?"

"Yes," the girl growled quietly, clearly reluctant.

Alex nodded, "Then, since you agree, I'm going to offer an olive branch. If you can agree to stay, not to try and run, not to call for help, and not to try and fight us, I'll have Lingus let you go. But you also need to answer our questions. I've still got several."

"Please," she whimpered, sounding somehow defeated suddenly, "it's so gross…"

"Agree, or no?" he asked once more.

"Fine, fine, I agree!"

"Lingus?"

The tongue squirmed and wiggled a little, and 'Misty' winced. Alex was worried for a moment that she'd be dropped, but instead his Lickitung put her feet on the ground gently before withdrawing, snake-like, so quickly that the girl spun on her feet twice. And of course, the moment she wasn't being supported or restrained, she was off-balance, turning.

The results were predictable.

'Misty' hit the ground in a heap.

After a groan and muttered curse Alex couldn't quite make out, she picked herself up, glaring at him the whole time. Half of her body was covered in leaves and dirt stuck there but the slimy saliva, the other half with a silvery sheen. "Hey, don't glare at me. I just said her name, that was all her."

"She's still a bitch," the girl muttered, glaring over her shoulder as she pushed her way to her feet next. "Fucking asshole Pokémon… Asshole boyfriend, two days late…"

"Maybe something happened to him?" Robin offered, "Two days is a while…"

The girl sighed, shrugged her head with a defeated expression, "He does it all the time… gets distracted by one stupid thing or another. He'll be here soon, I'm sure. Probably when I give up on waiting."

"First off, that's rude of him, if he doesn't at least let you know," Alex muttered, "and second, by that logic you should have given up on him. People who can't do the courtesy of communicating when plans change, well… I wouldn't put up with it. I don't."

'Misty' sniffed, "Not that I asked for your relationship advice, right? What are your dumb questions? Ask, so I can get on my way."

"What's your real name?" Alex asked again, "'Cause I don't believe you're who you said."

The glare returned in an instant, and her hand moved to the rear pocket of her tight, denim shorts. Two full humans, a Combinant, and nearly a dozen Pokémon stiffened, but the girl only pulled out a small billfold. "My Trainer ID. Skeptic…"

He stepped forward, trying to remain focused on the thin plastic card rather than the half-dirty, slime-covered midriff and cleavage on display beneath the yellow, cropped tank-top.

And stared.

There, right in front of him, was a tiny picture of the same red-haired girl, with a similar haircut though the tail was on the other side, from about a year earlier. Her cleavage, at least, was a little smaller, her face slightly more angled and less freckled.

The name, in bold, and preceded by a water droplet icon in blue, in simple line art: Misty Day Waterflower, Jr.

Below that, another bolded line: Trainer ID: 19682266211523 – GL-T

Alex swallowed, and turned the card over. There were ten icons filled in, out of sixteen, colored holographic images of several gyms, including the same Water-type one before her name. He gulped again and offered the card back, "Er… Wh- What's the 'GL-T' after your Trainer ID?"

She frowned, and half-snarled as she yanked it back, "It means Gym Leader Trainee."

Elle gasped.

Robin actually took a step back in surprise.

"Yeah," he informed them quietly, "This is really her. It's Gym Leader Misty's daughter, the Waterflower's black sheep herself."

"Wh- If you're really Misty, then wh- where are your Pokémon?" Elle asked, confused. "You should have dozens, maybe a hundred of them. Aren't you some sort of Water-type Prodigy, like your mom? Better than your sisters are supposed to be, anyway."

"They- it's none of your fucking business," Misty snarled as she turned away, back toward the Pokémon that still surrounded the space behind her.

"Not saying it is," Elle shrugged casually, "but seriously? We've got you at a severe disadvantage if you aren't even carrying a single one. I'm not threatening you, but if we wanted to, we could just knock you out, tie rocks to your feet, and throw you in the ocean, you know? See what a 'mermaid' you really are. Again, not threatening…"

She repeated the last as Misty whirled around to glare at her once more. "You wouldn't dare. People would start to look if I went missing. You'd be caught."

"I'm not threatening you," Elle reminded once more, "We really aren't evil people, or jerks. I'm just pointing out that, without your Pokémon, you're kind of… vulnerable. So I'm curious what happened. If we wanted to do something to you, I wouldn't have hesitated. The moment you got hoisted up, I'd have been having my Ghost-type lock you down."

"None of us respond well to threats," Alex explained, "We've had too many dealings with Team Rocket as it is."

"You've 'dealt with' Team Rocket?" Misty asked skeptically.

He nodded, "Unfortunately. Tussled with three different Agents on a couple occasions, had some run-ins with a few Grunts, and-" He wasn't sure how much he wanted to say about that night.

Robin seemed to have no such qualms, though. "A couple friends of ours were picked up by some Grunts, hoping to get to us. Well, them, since we had just met at the time. To get their safety assured, we were 'invited' to a meeting with Ariana Cooper. We attended. And that lady is fuckin' scary."

"Even my mother doesn't want to tangle with her if she can avoid it," Misty said quietly, "Something about not being worth destroying the city."

"I can believe it," Alex rumbled, "Seeing Snøgrav's one-Badge team was… worrisome. At full power?"

Misty shrugged, "I mean, it isn't like they don't both have their weaknesses. They know their Types. All good Trainers do. But even Gym Leaders have to follow the League Rules, or they get put down, too. Mom can't use her full team against anyone without all sixteen Badges, for example. Or a clear and present threat, like if Rocket openly tried to take charge of Cerulean, or something. I don't think she would… she'd hate to 'raise arms' against my sisters."

Alex and Elle shared a look as the girl scowled and turned her head away. There had been a clear something unsaid there, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what.

Robin, however, seemed to pick up on it at once. "I take it she wouldn't hesitate to fight against you, if she thought it was necessary?"

Misty snorted, "Who do you think has my Pokémon? I'm not sure if she thought I was trying to challenge her for the Leader position, or what, but I was just trying to prove to her that I can hold my own. Turns out I couldn't. She took my Pokémon 'for now' to get me to 'see sense'. Whatever the hell that means."

"Wait, then why're you out here, of all places?" Elle asked, gesturing to the ocean beyond the trees to the east, and the mountain cliff just west of them, the trees all around. "Isn't it dangerous out here, without Pokémon?"

Misty shrugged, "Well, I have some empty 'balls in my camp. I'm not totally defenseless, it's just harder to catch them when you can't really weaken them first. It's not impossible. And Bill Williamson, the guy who owns that mansion a few miles north of here, is an… acquaintance of mine. I stayed at his place for a few days."

"And he's not your boyfriend," Alex asked. "Just to clarify."

"No, he's like, my sister's age. Eww. No, Bill's just my friend. And he's gay."

"Oh. Okay."

"Anyway, that's the whole reason I'm here," Misty muttered, throwing her arms out, "My boyfriend's supposed to be meeting me here to help me rebuild a secondary team. Something I can use until I get my other Pokémon back."

"Ah," Alex nodded, "That makes sense. Well, uh… look, about the whole capturing you, thing…"

Misty sighed, "It's fine, forget it… I guess I can see where you're coming from. If you really didn't know who I was. And since I try to keep a low profile, it's not that shocking. I do look a lot like my mom, though…"

"We haven't seen her, yet," Robin shrugged, "We got told we wouldn't be able to unless we elected to Challenge her."

"Good luck if you do," Misty shrugged herself, "Most people do better against my bitchy sisters, even if they aren't as used to the three-on-three team format."

"Any, um, any advice? For either way to go?" Elle asked.

"Don't," Misty laughed. "Seriously, though, they aren't invincible. I've beaten my Mom's ten-Badge team once. My sisters are horrible, but if you practice in teams they aren't unbeatable. They'll just try to distract you a lot while the ones you aren't watching closely will hit you. And it's not just their tits and asses. Their tactics are like that, too."

Alex grinned, "That's good to know."

"Anyway, can- can I go, now?"

Alex glanced at his girls, who each gave subtle nods. "I suppose, yeah. Look, seriously- we alright?"

Misty snorted as she rolled her eyes, "Suddenly want to butter me up now that you know who I am?"

"No," he shook his head rapidly, "Like I said, we aren't bad guys, Misty. We're just trying to stay safe in a world that seems intent on trying to kill us. At least, some of them."

"Yeah, well, Rocket doesn't take kindly to your kind," Misty shrugged again, this time with just one shoulder that made her tank-top slide off only to hang on her perky, round breast. "I got nothin' against you in general. You came through some portal, they say, and are trying to breed our kind out of existence, or something. But you look human to me, aside from those weird eyes, so whatever. No different than someone with darker skin, or different colored hair, if you ask me. So no. I guess I've got no beef. I can see where you're coming from, and if you really are against Rocket-"

"We are, even if we're way too weak to really handle even an Agent," Elle promised.

Misty nodded, "That's fair. Still, if you aren't working with them, then you're alright in my book. For what that's worth. Apparently Tauros-shit in Cerulean, but…"

They exchanged another look. Alex frowned, but nodded at the hard expression both girls wore. "Is… is there anything we can do to help? Get your team back, I mean?"

"Not unless you can beat my mom," Misty muttered. "She respects those with strength, and that's it. She said I can have them back when I've 'learned my lesson' about respecting her strength, whatever the fuck that means. So my goal is to build another team, and teach my sisters not to give me shit, and remind them that even though they're older, I'm a way better Trainer than they are. At least shut them up, even if our mother doesn't care."

"I can respect that," Robin grinned, "So… yeah, if you want any help… We could use some more practice, too. I feel like we're almost ready to take on the two Gyms in Cerulean, but every bit of practice, training, and advice we can get…"

"I'll think about it," Misty shrugged, but turned, putting her back to them as she started to walk between Cock and Kole, with a wary glance at Lingus. "I'll be camping a bit south of here for another day or two, then I need to head back to Bill's to resupply. If you get any good Water Pokémon you don't need yourself, I'll buy 'em off you. I've got money, at least. A few to start would be fine, I can catch my own easily enough with that. But more wouldn't be bad, either."

"Right. We'll do that, if we can," Alex agreed.

He wanted to ask if it was legal to just outright purchase Pokémon.

Two things stopped him as the girl walked away, though. First, as a Gym Leader's daughter and trainee, wouldn't she know? And two, that ass was delectable in those little shorts, framed by toned swimmer's legs and a narrow waist, moving up to a bust that seemed huge on her otherwise petite frame.

Adisa Chuke still had bandages around her foot, her head, and had one arm in a sling when the elevator slid to a halt beneath the Grand Lake, and stepped out into the perpetual ice of the more formidable (by most accounts, at least) Gym.

Four Pokémon on her belt were, she knew, a small team for most that challenged this Gym. Johann Snøgrav was no pushover by any means, and everyone seemed to know it. But she had three Advantages on her team, and one glaring weakness. Overall, Adisa considered herself up to the challenge, even hampered as she was by her injuries.

In a formal match, those should not matter.

So she followed the signs for Challengers, and the painted line, until she found herself within a locker room. It was simple, open, with showers on one end (and a sign that advised not going into the Gym Floor with any moisture on a body at all), a young man with dark hair standing beneath one steaming spray looking disgruntled, and a young woman clad in a sports bra and panties keeping a somewhat wary eye on the young man, who was turned away, as she dressed.

Adisa gave her a nod, the girl nodded back, but said nothing.

The sign on the wall was simple enough. Rules for the Challengers, and rules the Gym would be following. Rounds of combat in a tiered system was easy enough.

A few minutes to rest between bouts, if their matches were won quickly enough. And the final would be against Snøgrav himself. A total sweep of every round was necessary, and their were no pass rounds.

The brackets themselves were filled in as competitors signed up, which Adisa had already done in the last room. As she looked, another name filled in, and soon a pretty, dark-haired Nipponese woman stepped into the room through the door she'd just entered from. "Chris? It's- it's my turn. You should go to the stands, if you want to watch."

Then man in the shower nodded, "R- Right, Riina. I'll hurry, sorry."

She gave him a soft smile, then nodded at Adisa and the other woman, before stripping down from her casual clothing to pull out thick long-john style underthings and a voluminous winter outfit.

Adisa shook her head. She didn't like the cold, per se, but she would deal with it. A couple hours in a frigid climate wouldn't kill her. Probably. And if it did, well… then she was too weak to do this, anyway.

First Badge teams… I don't see any names I recognize on this roster. But I suppose most of my 'peers' have already gotten their first Badges by now. In that way, at least, I'm behind the curve. Fucking Rocket, ruining something else.

… But I can catch up. I will catch up. Just you fucking watch. And once I'm Champion, I'm going to crush them.

A flurry of names filled in the No-Badge Bracket over the next five minutes, though Adisa wondered why they'd all gone to the other locker rooms, as the one she had chosen eventually emptied out, with the Riina woman going forward for the one-Badge matches, and her probable boyfriend and the other woman heading back in the other direction.

The clock predicting her first match was accurate enough, Adisa decided. With the Badges rotating upward, she'd just missed the last no-Badge fights. She'd have at least a few hours… unfortunate, but she could use the time productively.

Her four Pokémon appeared at once, arrayed around where she sat upon one of the long, simple benches. "Alright, you four… I'm gonna do it. I'm going after my first real Badge. Rocket… they weren't good for us. Any of us. I don't know if they're good for anyone, anymore, except themselves. But I need your help. I need your best."

"Houn-houn!"

"Chop!"

"Vu~ul!"

"Dude," her weakest Pokémon grunted.

Adisa nodded at them, and smiled proudly, "Alright. I have a plan. All of you are going to fight. Yes, Geodude, even you, even though this is an Ice Gym and you're at a huge disadvantage. See, I get a few seconds between fights to prepare for the next, if we win fast enough. So you're going to go first in at least the first few matches. I've got these Berries, which should weaken Ice moves if you eat them before a match, and…"