Even up in the higher floors, there were hostages. I walked around, getting the attention of every guy, grunt and all; employees, and looked around at what I was getting myself into without running into something blindly.

"Hmm... hm..." I walked around, letting all the guys look at me while I investigate. The best way to investigate is while people are working, but it's a bit strange that I'm being watched. As soon as I turned my head to see who was watching me, they quickly moved their red faces away.

I'm actually surprised I got myself to walk around so many grunts at a time without snapping at anyone. My main issue as of now is the main guys who messed with me. Though I had many grunts mess with me while I worked, they did it when I was a full "employee". The others took advantage of me when I was much younger.

I made my way around the corner and saw two girls on a table surrounded by recording equipment, crying to themselves while a grunt was trying to get them to shut up.

"Why do girls always cry so much!?" He shouted "Shut up, will you!?" The girls cried louder and one of them looked over to glare.

"Someone needs to put a beating on you mean Team Rocket! Like three years ago, even!" The grunt in front of them glared.

"What?! Say that again! I dare you" he lifted his hand at them. I grabbed his arm, making him look back at me and turned blue when he saw my eyes casting a shadow.

"Didn't your mother teach you to not hit women?" I pushed him to the wall "You're making a ruckus. If you don't stand so close to those girls, they wouldn't be screaming. Do you want me to tell the one who's in charge that you can't even follow orders correctly?" He flinched.

"R-Right!" He stood up and stood far from them "My bad!" I rolled my eyes and leaned down to the girls cowering to the corner.

"Don't worry girls, I'm going to take care of them" they calmed down as soon as I said that, growing confused. I walked away to continue my search and investigation.

The second floor didn't have much to offer, so I went up the third floor where there were a bunch of computers around and innocent people standing in the corner with more grunts holding them hostage. They really don't want anyone messing with them. Good thing I'm wearing this uniform or else I'll never see the end of it.

"I said I need to use the ladies room!" A girl yelled at a grunt trying to tame her by forcing her back with the other hostages.

"I said to get back in the corner!" He yelled back, trying to get her to stand still by grabbing her shoulders.

"Why can't you just let me go to the ladies room!? The phones don't work anyway!" I walked up to them "hey!" She looked at me "You're a girl! At least understand that I have to go to the bathroom!"

"What's wrong with her going to the bathroom?" I asked the grunt.

"I have direct orders to put everyone in their place!" He spoke with saliva splashing out. I pushed his face away.

"Say it, don't spray it. Do you want to be responsible for cleaning pee? And smelling it? For all we know, she can be on her per-" the guy waved his hands.

"S-Shit! Alright! You got me!" I snorted.

"I'll take care of it" I walked the girl to the bathroom.

"About time" the girl groaned.

"I'll handle them soon enough. They won't be here for very long" she quickly looked at me before she went into the stall.

"You're not a grunt?" I shook my head "You're really brave to put yourself in a situation like this" she looked at my outfit "But I must say... You look very gorgeous!" I blinked confused "Thinking of becoming a model one day?" What is this? Did she forget where she stands?

"I have other things to worry about" she nodded and went to the restroom and later came out, finishing her business, and walked back to me.

"Listen, the Team Rocket boss has locked himself in a locked area of the building, but the director can open it. If you just go up the fifth floor, you should find his office in the far right on the second door"

"That's useful information" I smiled.

"Well, I want these guys out of here as soon as possible, so get me back to the other hostages so you can take care of them!" I nodded and took her back where I found her before heading up a few stairs to find the door she was talking about.

There weren't many doors, and I didn't have to look far or count to know which door I had to enter into. It was open and I was easily able to walk in, seeing a certain someone in a decent disguise. I gulped, forcing myself to calm down, and walked up to him talking on a phone on the directors desk.

"...I am the director" he spoke to the phone, clearing his throat "We have decided to broadcast wonderful shows to praise Team Rocket" I took Pichu out and let Zorua hop out my bag to the floor to sniff around.

"Everyone, I don't want to hear you complain. Just do a good job" it seemed he was talking through a intercom. He finished talking and peaked over at me before jumping out his seat and banged himself on the wall to get away from me.

"Petrel, you're not very convincing" I said as calmly as possibly.

"K-Kit-" I glared when he almost dared to say that nickname. He quickly shut himself up.

"My name is Valerie" I calmed my expression "Are you deciding on a career change?"

"No, no, no! I was pretending to be the director to influence the entire region to support Team Rocket!" He stepped his grounds "I won't let the likes of you mess with me again!" He send out his Pokémon "I won't hold back!" I picked up Zorua and lifted her in front of me.

"Lock him up" Zorua barked excitedly and made a illusion of putting him in a small cage that'll only let him kneel. Petrel freaked out and wiggled the bars in front of him. While doing a little research, if the target of the illusion doesn't know it's an illusion, the effect will act as the real thing even if it isn't.

"No!" Petrel started yelling "Let me out! I'll do whatever you want!" I kneeled down to him. He immediately froze and looked up my skirt.

"I don't want to hurt you, so look at me like you got some sense" I warned. He quickly looked up at my face "Want to tell me what you're up to?" He cleared his throat.

"Well then! Listen carefully! We stashed the real Director in the underground warehouse! It's at the far end of Goldenrod tunnel!" Another underground place? "I'm a nice guy, honest! I-I'm so sorry about what I put you through!" I narrowed my eyes, not buying it "I'll even give you the basement key if it means you don't hurt me again!" He took out a card and handed it to me. I snatched it away and looked at it "That'll get you to the warehouse! Take it with gratitude" I stood up "Are you going to let me out?"

"I'll think about it" Zorua sneakered at him "I won't hurt you again, but I'm not going light on you or the rest of this gang. If you think I'm going to let Team Rocket go around doing what they like and make people's lives as miserable as what I went through. You can rot inside that cell for all I care" I picked up Zorua and made a dash for it, knowing the cage will disappear by the time we leave the room.

I left the building without turning to look at any of the grunts looking at my body and headed to the city, wondering where the warehouse was.

"Where am I going..?" A few grunts were beginning to walk by "excuse me!" I waved at them. Most of them were boys and only a few were girls. The guys quickly fell over heals for me while the girls stared at my face "Could you help me find the warehouse? I'm new" I nervously laughed.

"Newcomer? Damn, you cute" one of the guys said. I stroke a pose for them.

"Is it the outfit? I think I got it too small" I hugged my arms "It's a little embarrassing" the guys chuckled with me, while the two girls looked a bit suspicious of me "anyway, could you take me there?"

"Sure, I can take you" one of the boys gladly said.

"I can go too!" One of the girls said, eyeing me. I snorted and hugged the arm of the boy who volunteered.

"I don't think that's necessary! This cutie looks like he's knows his way around" I felt the heat burning of his body as I press myself on him "He looks smart. Don't be a meanie!"

"Yeah, mind your business!" The other guys fought them off, making them upset. The guys started making fun of the boy I was hugging and encouraged him to "get it" I mentally laughed and let him walk me across the street and a few streets over to take me to the warehouse.

He kept asking me questions about where I came from and how long I've been a grunt. I made up every lie on the book and dare to ask how long he's been around and what was the worse thing he's ever done while being a grunt. His answer was... enough to make me almost snap.

I didn't let it get to me and we finally made it to our destination "If you go down the hallway, you'll find the door, but you'll have to hope someone is listening to a knock on the other side of the door or else they won't let you in" he said, facing me.

"You've been a great help! I was kinda nervous to ask for directions since I thought you guys would make fun of me for not knowing" I played with my fingers "Thanks!"

"N-No problem!" I giggled, wanting to snap so badly through this act. 

"Can I..." I twisted around "give you a reward?" He turned red and quickly nodded "Okay! Close your eyes!" He obeyed and closed his eyes. I waited for a moment before throwing a punch and knocked him out.

"To think" I shook my hand "He was a nice guy up until he told me about that little Cubone's mom" I huffed "Disgusting people..." I changed back to my normal clothes and went down the hall to get to the door he was talking about. Turning a corner made me almost run into a girl in a familiar colorful kimono.

"Oh!" I panicked, catching myself on time "So sorry!" The girl held her heart and nodded.

"It's quite alright" she held her hands in front of her "Team Rocket members in black suits have been running around... I was wondering what was going on"

"You shouldn't be here. There are a ton of them outside and they'll hold you hostage if they see you"

"Oh my..." she frowned.

"I'm taking care of them right now" I went pass her "You need to get to safety"

"You're taking on Team Rocket?" She asked. I stopped and looked at her observing me "You are impressive!" She smiled, clapping her hands "You may be able to face the legendary Poké-" she stopped herself. Learning this, I was reminded of what Monty and the monk said about the last words the master said before he passed "hahaha!" The girl nervously laughed "Never mind! I must go now!" She went on ahead. It'll be too sudden to ask her about the words a man said before a passing. It sounds pretty disrespectful. I'm sure I'll meet her again.

"What a strange turn of events... It's like my world is turning upside down and upside right over and over again" I thought "one thing here, one thing there" I sighed "Why is everything so complicated? I'm actually surprised I kept cool back when I saw Petrel, but that's probably because he was scared of me now" Zorua was sneakering "You're still in training, but you're doing better than I expected" she barked and bounced around. I put her in my bag to calm her down and proceeded to the basement door with the key Petrel gave me.

The underground of this place seemed so gloomy... It was dark and there's only a few grunts I could see from the distance. They weren't very much of a fight and when I didn't feel like battling them, I had Zorua make a maze to throw them off their game so I could proceed to head towards the place I needed to go. To think I got so lucky to have a Pokémon such as Zorua who can do such amazing things to get people to believe what they're experiencing is real. The field of flowers in the bedroom was quite the mood changer, so I could only expect what those grunts were thinking when a sudden maze was made for them.

There was yelling from the side of a corner of the hallway I was in. I listened carefully and overheard someone wanting to be let go.

"Please, I don't deserve to be treated like this" I walked over to the scene and spotted a grunt staring at a old man who Petrel was mimicking earlier "I'm just a man trying to get by and feed his family. If I can't do that, at least let me go home" I leaned in the wall, watching them.

"For the hundredth time, I don't care" the grunt said "I would find some tape to shut your mouth, but I can't walk away from my position because I have to keep you from escaping! Nobody leaves! Got it?!" The grunt looked away as he leaned on the wall while the man, or director, kept trying to play with his Pokégear, but it wasn't working.

"Any device inside of Goldenrod won't work" the grunt said. I looked at my own Pokégear and saw that he was right.

Since I wasn't being noticed even if I've been standing there for a moment, I got Pichu to crawl over to the grunt "huh?" He looked at Pichu's innocent eyes "Why does this thing look weird? Where's its ear and tail?" He spoke in a disgusted manner. Pichu glared and shocked him with a shock, making him pass out on the spot.

"How rude" I huffed, picking up Pichu laying on the floor after electrocuting herself. I looked at the director staring up at me surprised "hi" I smiled "You asked for a rescuer?"

"Y-You came here to rescue me?" I nodded.

"Yeah" only partly correct, but yes "Come on, the maze should still be active. Get around it and you'll be okay" he blinked confused.

"M-Maze?" I chuckled that he will never understand what I mean when he sees a large wall in the way where the grunts are currently are going through now "tell me, what's happening in the radio tower?" I explained as much as I could "Really..? In that case, take this" he handed me a card key "use that to open the shutters in the third floor" oh, that one area that was locked? If I have to go back there, that means I'll have to put that stupid uniform back on.

"Nice!" I stared at the key.

"You're our only chance!" I pointed at the direction I came from "there's no telling what they'll do if they control the transmitter. They may even be able to control Pokémon using a special signal" I nodded.

"Right. Not sure what this basement is for, but if you know your way around, find a place to hide. You'll know when you're safe" he bowed.

"Thank you! Right above here is a supermarket, so I'll be fine!" He ran on ahead. Zorua started jumping around and cheering.

"Too early for celebration. We still got to get back to the tower" I groaned and looked at the uniform I took off earlier "This is too uncomfortable... I'll just take them head on" I grabbed my Pokémon and raced back to the Radio tower. Zorua had used her illusions to distract the grunts inside while I aimed to look for the shutter I saw before. Since I didn't need to investigate further, I'll have Zorua do the quick thinking while I head to the third floor.

I lifted the shutter by using the card key and went on ahead "that was so much faster than I thought it'll be! So much more refreshing than wearing that uniform"

"Hey" I stopped by the time I climbed the fifth floor stairs and looked back at Proton looking up at me climbing upward "Aren't you the one who got in our way at the Slowpoke well?" I sat on the stairs to face him.

"Maybe" I stuck my tongue out "Did you recognize me at all? I feel like I've changed a lot since then?" He huffed.

"Your hair certainly grew..." I looked at my long silver lavenderish hair to see it resting a little on the stairs beside me. It had grown a lot since then, hasn't it? "You're here to do the same thing, aren't you?" He glared "you're doing all this because you want to make me angry. But since you seem to wish it, I'll show you the full extent of a Team Rocket executive's wrath!" He send out his Pokémon. Zorua was about to attack before I stopped her.

"It's okay, I'll take him head on. I'll show him how much I've changed" I send out Clefairy "Clefairy! Use Moonblast!"

It's only been a few months since I've last been in the Slowpoke well. The amount of change I've been through is so much to think about that I almost don't recognize myself. Though I am still mentally unstable a little, my battling skills had drastically improved.

Proton had lost and wasn't happy at all, starting to aim his hands on me. Pichu wasn't having it and jumped his face to kiss him and knock him out with her Sweet kiss.

"Nice one" I smirked, pulling her back and continued to the fifth floor and saw a elevator! "That's where we need to go! We're almost there!"

"Not if you don't get pass me, you won't be" I turned back to see the woman from the hideout walking towards me "Hey there, remember me?" She chuckled, facing me "Looks like you're in a lot better condition than you were when I first saw you. You looked better on the floor though" she then laughed "Now" she cleared her throat "Aside from trying to get pass me and spoil our plans, I have to make a statement" I looked at her confused "Petrel had evacuated with me back when we were in the hideout and I happen to see some hand marks on his neck" I see where this was going "He told me what happened" she glared "You have no control, do you?" Before I could question that part, she lifted her hand and slapped me across the face. Zorua came out and growled aggressively towards her. W-What just happened..?