Recapture

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Shaking the girl's hand Alexis wondered if this was a good idea after all, it had been a spur of the moment plan and now she started to realise it may not have been such a good idea after all. Who knew what could go wrong, she could probably threaten Loreen with the cops so that she wouldn't tell Team Rocket about her but would that work all the time? Besides breaking into one Rocket base may be feasible but with her luck her pokemon were probably in different locations, unless she was really lucky.

"You can sleep in the guest room," Alexis said, snapping out of her thoughts, deciding to push those negative, if realistic, thoughts out o the way for now, she couldn't really back out after all. As Loreen finished Alexis showed the way to a small room past the livingroom, the guest room was actually Alexis old room, it still had some furniture that had been hers although a lot was new, the same white walls with small flowers on and a matching bedspread. Technically Alexis slept in here but as her paretns weren't home she used their large bed instead, leaving her old room available.

(Sorry it took awhile, thunderstorms destroyed my internet>.<)
 
((It's cool, I've been really busy with work and stuff anyway so don't feel bad :) ))

Lorene nodded, and allowed herself to be led to a surprisingly comfortable and well-furnished room, with Umbreon at her heel.

She walked over to the bed immediately and sat upon it. Soft. Way softer than she was used to; Team Rocket was not accustomed to spoiling their grunts; you had to be at LEAST an executive before they'd supply housing for you. Grunts had to either find a hotel (have fun on Rocket wages), or find a place to camp out. Lorene had gotten accustomed to carrying a lightweight tarp and sleeping bag, but those had been in the truck that she fell off of.

Fell, she repeated in her mind, her jaw tightening. I fell, that's all. The truck hit a bump and I fell, they were going too fast to notice.

Not dwelling on the subject, she looked around the room. It was a girl's room; flowers, soft accessories, and too organized and nicely decorated to be a boy's room. Either it had been used recently, or it was well-kept; nothing was dusty or even very old-looking. Lorene had the pleasant but slightly uncomfortable feeling of sleeping in a place she shouldn't be; it was a big switch. She took off her black beret, running a hand through her hair in a halfhearted effort to straighten it.

"Do you have any clothes I could borrow?" she blurted out, before the girl left. A tinge of red crossed her cheeks. "Um, we're probably fairly close to the same size, and, well..." she looked down at her black shirt, the orange 'R' blazing in the dark. If it could speak she was sure the garment would scream 'LOOK AT THIS GIRL! GUESS WHO SHE WORKS FOR! GRAB YOUR PITCHFORKS FOLKS!' "We won't get far with me in this."
 
Alexis noted how the grunt, or Loreen rather if she was going to start using her name, sat down on the bed and looked around the room and wondered briefly how members of Team Rocket lived, she had very little knowledge of the group except from reports on the news and from rumours so she had no idea what they did besides or in between stealing pokemon. It was a little hard imagining the leaders of the organisation paying for acceptale housing for every member but for all she knew they could very well do that or perhaps members had to find housing on their own

There was so much she didn't know although tired after the loss and her search as well as the battle in itself she hadn't much interest in finding out answers for some trivial questions at the moment.

Taking a breath she could smell the faint smell of dried flowers, mainly lavender, her mothers interest in pot pourri resulting in baskets and bowls placed throughout the apartment giving off the soft yet very present scent. To Alexis that scent was connected with safety, something she'd grown up with and still to this day could calm her and easily sip her off to sleep. As Loreen spoke Alexis had just prepared to leave now she turned back realising the problem as her eyes fell on the girl's black and orange clothes. "True," she agreed, they'd not even get out of town most likely. Walking over to her dresser she opened a few drawers and picked out some clothes for herself before turning her attention back to Loreen.

"See if you can't find something that fits in here then," she said. She wasn't exactly a fashion addict so she had a quite easy style, jeans and t-shirts and some additional more girly type of clothing, but her style was more practical and subtle than outright flashy. Leaving the girl to find some clothes Alexis went down the hall her parents bed room and slipped into her large t-shirt she used as a pyjamas before falling into bed, soon afterwards Kian trotted silently into the room and made himself comfortable on top of the covers.
 
(((Dude can this please still be happening? I can reply tomorrow, I've just been so busy with work sucking ass and trying to find a new job these past few weeks :( )))
 
Morning found Lorene still sound asleep, her hair loose and tangled around her head. Her dirty Team Rocket clothes lay on the floor at the foot of the bed, and she wore a clean white tee shirt to sleep in.

She had found the drawers with quite a few clothes - though little variety - and most of them seemed like they would fit. Lorene had selected a few looser-fitting outfits and set them aside on the top of the dresser with socks and underwear - she felt weird borrowing underwear, but she'd resolved buy the girl some new ones to replace them and, well, it wasn't really a thing she could go without.

Umbreon had returned to his pokeball, which rested on the pillow near Lorene's face as light squinted through the shuttered window, warming her.

She murmured something unintelligible in her sleep, and rolled onto her back. The disturbance caused Umbreon's pokeball to fall off the pillow, which would normally have stopped there if her arm had not also fallen over, knocking it from there to the floor.

The black-and-yellow pokemon emerged with a grumbled, blinking at the morning and grooming his front paw. He looked around for Lorene, and finding her on the bed, immediately pounced upon her chest.

"Umbreon!"

Lorene blinked awake slowly, squinting as the pokemon slowly came into focus. "Wh-what..>?"

"Umbreon." Satisfied, he hopped down to the floor, waiting for Lorene's usual slow waking up routine to complete.

It took her a moment to remember where she was, but only a second to know it wasn't a place she was used to. Once she recalled the previous night, she groaned, holding a hand to her head and falling backward as if resuming the position would put her back into the blissful ignorance of sleep.

"Umbreon!"

"Okay, okay, I'm getting up." Lorene grumbled, swivelling to be sitting on the side of the bed, finger-combing her tangled hair.
 
A constant, low sound brought Alexis from the comfort of sleep, dragging her to a concious state, as she slowly woke up she opened her greenish grey eyes to the slghtly blurry sight of Kian that barked at her, sometimes yelping into higher notes. He looked back occasionally in the directions of the guest room and then back to Alexis. "Okay, I'm awake, stop barking Kian." She mumled as she sat up in the double bed and stretched, rubbing her eyes she missed the warmth of the bed already as she reached for her glasses with one hand.

Memories of last night poured back into her mind and she realised why Kian looked back all the time, he was probably picking up sounds that the Rocket girl was awake. Alexis flopped back down on the bed, flinging an arm across her face, expertly avoiding her glasses, a skill picked up after hitting her glasses one too many times. Her Growlithe gave a final low bark before leaving the room and padded down the corridor to look in on Lorene and her Umbreon, taking his duties as a guard seriosly now that his owner didn't seem too eager to rise.

Heaving a large sigh Alexis rolled out of bed and gathered the clothes she picked last night and headed for the bathroom, stopping by the kitchen to start the electric kettle. After a quick shower she felt more alert, her hair hung loose, half dried around her shoulders and Kian had appeared sensing food might be on the way. Pouring some hot water in a cup Alexis fixed herself some tea, filling Kian's bowl with some food, it didn't take long after she put it down before not even a trace of it was left.

Directing his red eyes to her he seemed to ask for more like only a dog could. "Sorry boy that's all you get until tonight, you know it as well as I do." Alexis scratched his ears and then proceeded to fix some food for herself and for Lorene when she showed up.

(Sorry it took so long...)
 
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((I squeaked a bit when the alert came up lol))

Lorene had dragged her bedraggled self out of bed and into a set of borrowed clothes. She approached the door to the washroom, but it was occupied. Her face turned briefly to an expression of disappointment, and she glanced toward the upstairs, wondering if there was maybe a second bathroom, but after she noticed the stout growlithe sitting upright at the end of the hall. Deciding she wouldn't chance the canine mistaking her intentions, she turned and headed back to the room she'd slept in.

Umbreon sat at her heel when she sat on the bed, but she beckoned him up to the mattress, which he ascended to with a single jump. Lorene nudged him to sit on her lap and held his ebony face between her hands, checking the top of his head to inspect the burn from the night before. The scratches had all healed completely, but when she brushed her fingertips over the area Umbreon winced as though it were still sensitive. She hasn't noticed any burn heals among Alexis' medicine the other night, she supposed it would have to heal naturally. Fortunately it was a minor injury, and Umbreon didn't seem bothered when there wasn't any pressure on it. Lorene let go of his head and it yawned, licking a paw and beginning to groom one long ear.

"Radar head" Lorene muttered, stroking the other ear absently. Umbreon swatted her hand away, baring just a few gleaming white teeth in warning. She put up her hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay, back off at bathtime, I get it."

She leaned backward on her elbows, looking down the hallway. Speaking of bathtime...

Scarcely did the thought pop into her head when she heard the water shut off. She counted a hundred a few times to let Alexis dry off and get dressed before she re-emerged into the hall. She saw Alexis' back disappear into the kitchen, the growlithe at her heels, and made a beeline after her.

"Morning-can-I-use-your-shower?" She blurted, all in one breath.

"Umbreon!" An indignant yowl from the Pokemon who soon appeared at her heels, quite displeased at the speed with which his human chair had stood up and spilled him. Feline reflexes had landed him on all fours, but he still carried a look of resentment as he trotted after Lorene.

Resentment which was soon forgotten as Umbreon watched Alexis put Kian's food away. It's mouth watered, and if it's stomach could growl, it would have.
 
Turning around from the cupboard as Loreen came rushing Alexis nodded, "sure. There are clean towels on the shelves by the door." She added. It felt really weird having this Rocket member in her home, and one part of her wanted to make the girl repent for her part in the theft but another part of her felt a little sorry for Loreen that had no clothes, nothing except her Umbreon and left behind by her team like it was nothing. Alexis wondered if the other Rocket members hadn't noticed her absence right away or if they had just continued on leaving Loreen to the angry towns people. Maybe it was karma paying back for a life of crime but one part of Alexis always insisted on being empathetic with pretty much everyone in one way or another and this situation didn't exactly quiet it down.

Sipping some tea Alexis jerked her head back a bit and cursed under her breath as the hot tea burned her tongue, she had never mastered the skill of drinking steaming hot tea without burning herself and yet she often forgot to wait for her tea to cool. "Do you mind if I give your Umbreon some food?" Alexis asked before Loreen could head for the bathroom, she doubted the girl had pokemon food stuffen in the pockets of her uniform and the Umbreon's hungry eyes following the bag of food wasn't easily missed or ignored. Raking a hand through her damp hair Alexis put down her mug and bent to pick up Kian's bowl.
 
Lorene turned her head, considering Alexis' question. Umbreon looked up at her, its yellow eyes blank; it held her gaze a moment, and then turned away, grooming its paw as if it couldn't care less if it got breakfast or not. She bit the inside of her lip, considering. Umbreon would be more useful if it was healthy and fed, but she hadn't considered that allowing herself to be in the debt of Alexis meant being indebted for Umbreon's care as well.

"I, um, I can't pay for it" she hesitated; "I mean, if you want to feed it I won't stop you, but just know you're not getting paid back for it"

She shrugged one shoulder as if she didn't care, and continued into the washroom, locking the door behind her. The air was still humid from Alexis' shower.

As the door closed, Umbreon looked up from its paw and seemed to droop; its shoulders slumped and its head sunk. "Umbreon..."
 
"I don't mind," Alexis replied as Loreen headed for the bathroom. Strictly speaking the pokemon food belonged to her parents as this was their place and Alexis had just moved here for a while but not only was the stuff kind off cheap her parents as well wouldn't let a pokemon starve just because it wasn't theirs. Taking out a plate from a cup board Alexis spooned out some more food before setting it down for Umbreon. "There you go," she smiled at the black and yellow pokemon as she straightend. "Kian, no. That's not for you." Alexis repriminded the growlithe. "You have already eaten, honestly you would easily become a mini snorlax if you ate as you wanted." She continued as she put on the stove and dug through the counters to find a frying pan.

Soon she was done with the scrambled eggs and worked her way through a pack of bacon, cursing under her breath when the heat sent scalding hot drops of oil onto her bare arms, it was always a pain but still Alexis couldn't really see a breakfast without bacon and eggs. Putting the frying pan to cool Alexis set the table, taking a seat after refilling her cup with more tea Alexis almost got the feeling it was just a normal morning, almost. "There's enough for you too if you want, unless you want something else," she said when Loreen got back. "In that case you can look to see what you can find," Alexis added. Feeling a bit awkward over the situation, it was hard overlooking what Loreen was but even if she was a criminal Alexis couldn't treat her as a prisoner without entering a major guilt trip.
 
Umbreon ate its food in record time, gulping the pellets down as though it were breathing them. It had long-since licked the plate clean as Lorene emerged from the shower, finger-combing her damp hair and wearing borrowed clothes. Her stomach unleashed an Arcanine-level growl when the smell of frying bacon hit her nostrils. Umbreon looked up when she entered the kitchen, then wandered over to Kian's food bowl, in search of leftover crumbs.

"What you've got there smells amazing" she said, feeling her mouth water and trying not to recall how long it was since she'd had a proper meal - or any meal. The last she could remember was half a greasy sandwich at a side-of-the-road shop a couple days ago. Her stomach growled again, and she felt her knees weaken. She pulled a chair out at the table across from Lorene. "So, uh, you live by yourself here or what?" She forced herself to keep looking at Alexis' face as she spoke; this awkward tenseness was starting to bug her, and if she had to guide this girl all the way to HQ she decided she was not going to put up with it the whole way.
 
Pushing the large plate with bacon and eggs across the table with one hand, pushing up her glasses at the same time, not that it was exacty neccessary but it was an old habit she couldn't stop doing. "Help yourself," she said to Loreen, the girl's stomach growl being the opposite of quiet. "Both yes and no actually," Alexis answered after swallowing. "This is my parents home, my apartment is being changed into a hotel so I'm living here while I find a new place." She continued, if she'd ever find an apartment that is. It seemed impossible to find one, and when she thought she'd found one that was both affordable and livable then it was either too expensive or someone else got it.

"My parents are on vacation though, a second honey moon to Kanto or something along those lines." A cruise to Kanto and then they planned on travelling around some cities befroe taking a cruise back home again. "I hope they stay away as long as possible however," Alexis admitted, dreading her parents return. "Then I may have found their Houndoom again," the words wasn't thrown as an accusation this time, more a statement of facts. She knew her parents wouldn't blame her but that didn't make her feel any better about it, and while there was a person that could be blamed in front of her that really wouldn't make anything any better. Hostilities and awkwardness would also make this journey very long and difficult.
 
Lorene gladly accepted the offered food, and dug in with the ferocity of a starved gyarados. She shovelled through the meal at a tremendously unladylike speed; the bacon could have been burned and the eggs spoiled and she probably wouldn't even have tasted it.

When Alexis finished her part, Lorene looked up; "The journey to HQ will take a while" she cautioned, deciding to ignore the bit about her parents' missing Houndoom. She knew she had played a part in the grand theft, but she refused to accept sole responsibility, and she also refused to spend the entire time on the road getting guilt-tripped, too. "We'll need to start by heading northwest, towards Violet City." she continued, speaking between gulps. "We should start as soon as possible; if we can cut through the mountains instead of going through Cherrygrove, we may be able to head them off, since they're in trucks so they'll need to stick to roads." As she spoke, she drew a map in her head and traced it on the tabletop with her free hand.

Finally scraping the last scrap of egg off the plate, she leaned back with a contented sigh. "I'm ready to start whenever you are"
 
Seeing the girl devour her food as quick as her Umbreon Alexis finished her meal quite a bit slower, either she really liked egg and bacon or she and her pokemon were starving. Alexis took a bet on the second one, not to judge but she couldn't really see Rocket grunts rolling in money. Washing down her food with the rest of her tea Alexis listened to Loreen's suggestion, despite the difficult terrain it could be possible to intercept them as Loreen said, although she preferred not to think about how she'd be able to defeat an entire group of Rockets on her own.

"Sounds good to me," she replied with a nod. "It would be easiest if we managed to cut them off before they reach your HQ, although I've never relied on miracles," Aexis said. It was nice to view the world in a positive light but mostly Alexis tried to keep a more realistic view on things, it was better to expect the worst to happen then to belive the best and be in trouble. "Now I've never really been on the road before, a few days camping at the most, so I'm no expert in what to bring but I'll just take a minute to grab some potions and stuff. Is there something you'd suggest we take?" She asked with a glance at Loreen.

Rising to her feet Alexis brought the dishes to the sink and washed them off quickly before hurrying off tp pack, Kian rose from the ground where he'd been spying for any food that could potentially fall to the floor, padding over to Umbreon sniffing but keeping a bit off a polte distance, wagging his tail.
 
"The main thing is to just pack light"Lorene replied, feeling more at ease as things started setting into action - it was far less awkward when she actually felt useful. "Every extra gram just makes you slower, hungrier, and thirstier. Pack two changes of clothes at most, clothes can be washed. Food we can find on the way, and yeah, grab potions, we won't be hitting any pokecenters."

She stood up, helping herself to a clean glass visible in one of the cupboards and pouring herself a cup of water, gulping it down and smacking her lips after. "Much better. Like I said I'm ready to leave anytime, and they've already got a night's head start, so pack quickly. Please." She added the last word as an afterthought, recalling that, even if her travel experience made her an asset here, she still wasn't in any position to be making demands, not with officers probably already crawling all over the city looking for clues.
 
Alexis nodded and scurried off towards her bedroom, or rather the guest room, a bit surprised at the use of the word 'please', she hadn't expected that to come from a Rocket member, but she let it pass without making a comment. In the room she grabbed a large shoulder bag from a hook behind the door, it was the only one she owned that was big enough.

Stuffing down an extra pair of jeans and a pair of shirts, finishing with a sweater and some underwear, opening the drawer on the bedside table Alexis picked up the flaming red stone, it picked up light from the ceiling lamp and spread a warm glow in her hand. Kian's fire stone. Placing it in the bag as well Alexis continued on, to have a larger chance of success it would be a good idea to evolve him to an Arcanine, she were not in much of a hurry to change his form honestly but she may not have much of a choice as an unevolved pokemon had disadvantages, as seen by how Growlithe basically won on luck against Umbreon. After stopping by the bathroom to grab as many potions that would fit easily in the bag, placing them carefully on the clothes so they would be somewhat protected from being broken and so they wouldn't bump into each other too much and make a lot of noise.

Back in the kitchen she hiked the bag higher on her shoulder and looked over at Loreen. "I have potions to last us for quite awhile, I hope." She said, already trying to plan out a route that would keep them out of sight as much as possible. "If you are done then we can leave now, did anyone see you yesterday? Enough so they can point you out easily or do you thik some normal clothes will work to hide you?" There were alleyways and less trafficed roads that Alexis knew off that would help them out but there was a few places it would be hard to sneak through totally undetected.
 
Lorene was pleased at the speed it took Alexis to pack; for someone who didn't travel, she seemed to have followed the 'travel light' rule pretty well. She was reminded briefly of her first road trip; Lorene's thirteen-year-old self had taken half of what she owned in that duffel bag, only to drag it back home the next day and submit to letting her parents re-pack it.

"I don't know; I have no idea how long I was passed out for, but it must have been hours." Lorene frowned, thinking. She had been on the side of the road, not hidden, but not in plain sight, either, and a couple kilometers out of town. "I think" she said slowly, trying to find an answer she could be sure of, "if someone had seen me, they would have dragged me back to town, and not left to find an angry mob, so probably not" she bit her lip, thinking of stepping outside and immediately having hundreds of angry pokemon trainers tear her to shreds. She shivered.

"We should hide our pokemon, though" she said, pulling the pokeball out of her pocket and calling Umbreon over with a short whistle. "It'll be suspicious if we're walking around with pokemon like we were exempt from the raid or something, so you should recall your Growlithe, too; at least until we get out of town."
 
Alexis nodded in agreement, taking out Kian's pokeball at the same time, even if she had nothing to do with team rocket people who didn't know her would certainly think she was suspicious if her pokemon walked around freely when everyone else had lost theirs. With a low whistle she motioned at Kian and as he trotted over Alexis held up the ball, "it's just for awhile," she said as Kian was called into the pokeball, so far as she knew he didn't dislike being inside the ball, at least he didn't protest or anyhing like it. Ever since she had first caught him Alexis couldn't really recall very many times that he spent inside his ball, of course she had her other pokemon out as well but even though she tried to not favourise among her pokemon, Kian, as her first one, was special.

"Then I'll try to get us through as much away from sight as possible," she replied to Loreen, it was worth some extra time to not get Loreen caught before leaving New Bark. "Luckily it isn't far to the edge of town and hopefully it isn't too crowded today." People who'd lost their precious pokemon still had jobs to go to and those who didn't were perhaps not shopping like usual, if luck were in their favour. Normally Alexis weren't the most optimistic person but determination could be just as good as some optimism.

Placing her pokeball in her bag Alexis took a few extra moments to turn off the lights in the apartment before stepping into her sneakers, by the door she waited until Loreen had exited before locking the door behind them. Heading downstairs, a careful eye searching for any activity. "This way," Alexis led them a slightly different route than the one they'd come last night, down an alley between two apartment complexes, cutting across a larger street with stores lining the road, they were open but not too many people were around. Next she led them through some smaller streets, hoping her memory would lead them correctly, soon they neared the edge, trees could be seen between houses before being hidden again and traffick noises quieted down as they left the city behind. "There's not much left now," Alexis said, breaking the silence. "It seems like we made it without any mishaps." Silently she wondered how much bad luck was waiting when things seemed to start so well.
 
Lorene tried to keep her head down as they made their way through the city; she pulled up the hood of her borrowed sweater, and let her bland hair fall forward, hiding her face from the side. There were few in the streets, but every sidelong glance, every disinterested peek made her feel as though she were under a microscope, with a hot lens focused upon her face. Umbreon sweated in it's pokeball, and she nearly tripped over her own toes four times in the side streets, she was so distracted.

As they made their way out of the heart of town and into the suburbs, and the neighbourhoods became more rural and quiet, she gradually began to relax. The morning chill quickly fell from the air as they progressed, and as they started nearing the borders of New Bark, Lorene pulled back her hood and flipped her hair back, appreciating the cool breeze on her face.

She was about to attempt to break the silence with a comment about the sunny weather when she saw the police motorcycle up ahead.
 
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