It's no secret that Oscar would take any job thrown at him. The only way to move up in this world is to prove your worth, and Oscar knew the only way to do that was to complete missions. No mission was too small, as long as he got paid and earned some recognition. This mission was a tricky one though; simple enough on the surface bu challenging when held under scrutiny. Catch a slowpoke? No problem. Catch a slowbro to de-evolve them? That was no easy task. Slowbros are tougher than they luck, though luckily they're just as stupid as their base forms.

Oscar made it to the suggested location early in the morning, a small cave on an island near Mossdeep. The cave itself was small, but within sat a moderately large pond that went down pretty deep. Oscar hid behind some stalagmites, not a great hiding place but then again slowpoke were ridiculously stupid. His dewpider Clavis waited in the water, searching for shelder to keep near the water's surface to encourage evolution. Time passed, one or two slowpoke entered the cave but they never fished. Just stood there with their dumb ass expressions before wandering out. Oscar groaned, he found it difficult to be patient when these fuckers were so slow!

Around one in the afternoon, his luck changed. A slowpoke wandered in and began fishing at the pond. Oscar's heartbeat quickened as he prepared a pokeball. If Clavis was doing his job, this should take no time at all. Then came footsteps. Not of a pokemon, but of a human. Oscar peeked from out of his hiding spot and saw a blonde guy walking into the cave. Unfortunately, the slowpoke saw him too. Oscar looked to the slowpoke and watched helplessly as his blank face slid into the pond. It did not reemerge. 

"Oh fucking hell!" Oscar emerged from his hiding spot and stormed toward the pond. He looked down, just to see that dumb face sink into the murky deep of the water. He looked to the man, he had to keep his calm. Lest he give away his true nature. Although he had some suspicion, this was a very specific cave given as part of the mission. Did they send more than one Rocket? Oscar slicked back his hair and sighed, approaching the stranger to chat. "Wellp, there goes hours of waiting. I've been trying to get a damn Slowbro all day. I mean you couldn't have known but shit dude, gotta stomp like that?"

Oscar was loud and intrusive, the opposite of Sebastion's covert approach. If they had to work together, it would be quite a challenge. Unfortunately, they didn't have a choice. Not long after Sebastian's inevitable reply, Oscar would hold up a hand for silence. There was chattering approaching. Kids? "No fucking way." He murmured, as an entire class of school children approached. "He probably didn't need to tell the stranger this, but he said it anyway. "Be cool be cool." Oscar stepped forward as the apparent teacher approached. Upon hearing the teacher's request, Oscar was quick to respond. "But of course! I was actually hoping to witness the event. My name is Oscar! And this is my assistant er um..." He looked back at the stranger. To Oscar this guy was just some hapless trainer with a 10% chance of being a fellow grunt, either way he expected him to play along to make up from the earlier blunder.
Igor
Alethea Ivanova

Sebastian's initial investigation eventually, and surprisingly, brought him directly to the jungle-cave where the upstart gang had supposedly been basing their operations out of. However, upon delving deeper it seemed that no one was home which meant that the group had either packed up and moved on, had been driven out, or they merely operated deeper inside of the cave, maybe there was even some room hidden behind a fake wall....

Regardless, stepping out of the tunnel that lead into the cave's first open room Sebastian would find his attention stolen by a sizable underground pond of sorts, though his eyes soon then diverted themselves to take in the other figure in the room, being another Human Male.

Their initial body language seemed focus, pin pointed, but upon Sebastian's arrival it seemed to disturb whatever they had been up to, whomever they were. The thought of which sent Sebastian into a brain storming nightmare of sorts, pondering on if the guy was some lone wanderer who happened upon the place or if he was something more akin to a Rogue. One of the upstart gang members? Or perhaps it was another Rocket member? After all Sebastian was just a Grunt, they didn't always take the time to inform such low ranking members if they'd be given any sort of aide/help on the job, and if they did they were never really told whom their partner/s would be.

However, their newfound frantic and angered behavior would bring Sebastian back to the present and end his day dreaming while also bringing his facial expression into an unamused one immediately. Whoever they other Male was they clearly didn't know that Sebastian wasn't the type to take kindly to such brazen acts of disrespect, nor was he the forgiving type. Yet, before Sebastian could reply in a cold snap, it seemed that others had happened upon the cave as well....

Perhaps the reason the upstart gang wasn't there presently, or why they had perhaps given up on it, was because of it's apparent of privacy which had been shown three fold now in just a short time already.

The other Rogue had it right to play the part of another, a similar thought crossing Sebastian's mind even before his "partner" had begun speaking.

Oh yes, yess! Visitors, we love visitors! I am Assistant Eugene! It's nice to meet you all!

Welcome to our little abode!

Versed on the evolution process? OH HO, MY LADY INDEED, INDEED WE ARE!

It's the concrete of our very teachings, we've spent nearly our entire lives solely focusing on the likes of Slowpoke and Shelder, though I myself have spent quite a bit of my time obsessing over Shelder and it's second form Cloyster. It's what lead to my interest in Slowpoke in fact, being that Shelder is capable of taking on two entirely new forms thanks to Slowpoke!

Smiling wide while continuing to hold onto Deth firmly Sebastian would proceed to rub the bottom of his chin on top of the feline's head, calming her nigh unrest now that there were too many newcomers around.

Oh gee, apologies, apologies....

This is my Glameow, she's a lazy kitty, but so lovingggg. Do you kids want to rub her tummy while we wait for more Shelder and Slowpoke?!?!

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Oscar listened to Eugene intently, and when he was finished he snapped his fingers. "What he said was correct!" While the kids were distracted with the glameow, Oscar intended to grab an aside with Eugene. However the teacher was quick, expressing her gratitude for their being here by happenstance. Oscar chuckled, "It is no bother. We've always wanted to teach! Eugene, why don't you walk through your theories on evolution while I check the shelder activity in the pond." 

Oscar walked away before he could get anyone to agree. He didn't know Eugene's true intentions, but if he was a trainer hoping to catch a slowbro he wanted him as far away from the pond as possible. Oscar bent down at the pond and rubbed his chin, trying to seem like he was actually doing something of worth. "Hmmm yes I see. How interesting!" In reality he was keeping an eye for the slowpoke that took a dive. If Clavis can notice it in time and actually do his job, maybe he could force a shelder to bite it. 

Clavis had spent the past three hours trying to wake a sleeping shelder on the pond's floor. At this point he was so angry, he began to beat onto the shell with his legs as if he were playing bongos. Damn thing wouldn't nudge. He was about to try and pry it open, when a shadow blocked out the light from above. He looked up and saw a slowpoke slowly drift down to the pond floor, landing with its tail facing him. Clavis could not believe his luck. He quickly got to work, dragging the shelder toward the slowpoke. With the brought as close as Clavis could manage without touching the slowpoke, Clavis tapped once more before swimming away. The shelder twitched, as if it smelled something tasty. It then slowly opened up, and as it saw the motionless tail it did not hesitate to excitedly chomp down.

Oscar's eyes widened as the pond began to glow. "Well I'll be." He stood up and backed away, anticipating the slowbro to emerge at any moment. He was so focused on the pond, that he did not notice a chunk of the cave wall opening behind him. 

Igor
Alethea Ivanova

Yes Sir!!

Clearing his throat while setting Deth the Glameow down to her feet, all four of them in fact, Sebastian would then proceed to return to his full height. It was time to "lecture".

Now, you see children....There is concrete evidence that Slowpoke's evolution into Slowbro via the lasting bite of Shelder is caused by the latter's poison...But, I'm here to say I question this dearly.

Why you might ask? Well, hmmm!

Firstly, Shelder by nature are not Poison-Types, nor do they have it as a secondary typing. So where would this poison come from? I mean, Shelder do not possess the ability to naturally learn any Poison-Type move nor can they learn any through TM devices...

So again, where might the Shelder acquire this "poison" that is supposedly the key to the evolution process of Slowpoke?!

I theorize that the poison is actually generated in response to a chemical inside of Slowbro that is either toxic to the shellfish Pokemon or it's allergic to, requiring the Shelder to forge an antidote of it's own in the process, and when combined these two chemicals create said "poison" leading to a chemical reaction that stirs the otherwise dormant evolution tree of Slowpoke. However this "poison" while benefiting the Slowbro and potential future Slowking, it does the reverse for Shelder. From what I've examined the poison greatly hinders Shelder's overall physicality and is constantly draining the Water-Type, forcing it into a parasitic state, slowly, but surely sucking nutrients from it's host just to sustain it's living state.

Sadly this puts an end to Shelder's hopes and dreams of becoming a Cloyster, also worth note is that no encounter between a Cloyster and Slowpoke causes anything of note. Perhaps Cloyster in it's evolution has come to detest Slowpoke and it's evolutionary line, perhaps Cloyster realizes that it narrowly avoided the life as a parasitic host to Slowbro and Slowking.

Then again, if one were to dare risk harming either Slowbro or the mutated Shelder they might reacquire Slowpoke and the Shelder's initial form. Though for the sake of the Pokemon steady, skilled, nigh surgical hands are required for this procedure, otherwise one might risk mentally, emotionally, let alone physically scarring either Pokemon. I've seen some Shelder never swim again due to this, instead remaining at the bottom of the sea or burrowing itself forever deep in the sand. I've also seen some Slowpoke become increasingly afraid of the water, avoiding it entirely in some cases which might cause death via dehydration.

It's safe to say that the mysteries surrounding both Slowpoke and Shelder are some of the most, if not the most intriguing indeed!!

Turning then ever so slightly to glance back at his "Fellow scientist" Sebastian would be afforded a better view of things due to his position in the cave room. In equal vision he'd bare sight of the bright light emitting from beneath the nearby water hole as well as the sight of the stone wall shifting behind the guy, black shadows swallowing up the "wall" into an apparent doorway.

The gang?!

Gulping as his mind raced immediately with what might be going on and how he should react to it, Sebastian would be swift nonetheless. With Deth still distracting the kids Sebastian would leap forward several times, attempting to act discreetly as possible before throwing himself into the initial shadow space in the cave wall.

Whatever it was, whatever was going on he couldn't let their covers be blown now, least he be embarrassed in the least, arrested in the worst.

Tumbling into the darkness Sebastian knew he hit something, or someone, maybe more than just one, causing a scuffle to ensue and in the darkness a switch was flipped, forcing the wall to slowly close back up behind Sebastian with a moderately sized room, attached to a few smaller ones would appear as a dim light lit up the place.

A hidden base within a base.....

Interesting.

More interesting was that he now stood adjacent to a group of three modern day Pirate-Punk styled thugs, surely the upstart gang members, or some of them. Each of them held a single Pokemon Ball in their hand, though the girl in the middle held two respectively.

Oh, so a Battle then, huh?!

I'm glad you guys and gals like it the hard way!

Chuckling Sebastian would then be quick to take a step forward, plating his feet firmly onto the carved out floor of the room, in another instant he had reached into his travelling bag with both hands. Each grabbing onto as many of his Poke Balls as possible, or at least the remaining five that held his other Pokemon, before launching said tiny orbs into the space ahead of him. These tiny orbs would extend and grow in size midair, forming full spheres before ejecting Pokemon via bright blue energy.

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The incident with the sliding wall and Sebastian diving into it went unnoticed by Oscar. His eyes were on the prize, the slowbro that was rapidly hurdling its way toward the surface. Except there was a problem, the glowing drew the attention of the children and they were starting to flock near the event. Oscar twitched, damn kids were getting in the way.

"Stay back! Its coming up fast!" Oscar himself backed away as the slowbro burst from the pond and landed with a thud in front of Oscar. It looked up and tried to observe its surroundings. It was rather confused, because about five minutes ago it was a slowpoke. The kids naturally surrounded it, with the beast being too dumb to feel threatened or scared. 

The scene shifted as the slowbro disappeared with a flash. A ball landed in its place, and after a few shakes it was caught. Oscar walked past some of the stunned children and picked up the ball. Good, Rocket had itself a new slowbro. Oscar's mission was complete, he had what he wanted so it was time to go. Clavis burst from the pond, shocking a few of the children. He crawled up Oscar's legs and back and rested on his shoulder. 

Oscar knew he looked a tad sinister here, so he tried to dissuade some of the tension with his professor act. "Don't be alarmed, I am simply taking this newly born slowbro to my laboratory where we shall study the effect evolution had on its body." He walked past the huddled group as he continued, "You see, evolution is supposed to be a natural occurrence among pokemon. Slowbro is one of the exceptions, it is an evolution that wasn't supposed to exist. It was formed by the coincidental compatibility of two entirely different species. If we can understand this, perhaps we can find other pokemon species that can evolve in a similar manner. The very idea excites me greatly." Not a bad speech, one of his better improvised moments thus far. He walked to Thea to round out the charade, "Well with that I shall leave you and your students to it. Hopefully you guys learned a bit form me and uh..." Oscar looked around, "Eugene" was nowhere to be found. "Wait, where did my uh, assistant go?"

Igor, Alethea Ivanova

The opposition called forth a Golbat, a Voltorb, while the suspected female lead called forth a Seviper as well as a Serperior to face off against Sebastian trio of Meowth variants, Litleo, and Litten, being Pestilence, Famine, Gram, Maladi, and Dooku respectively.

And while the Pokemon began to duke it out so would Sebastian seek to engage the opposition's trainers in combat too, throwing skilled punches, kicks, elbows, and knee strikes while also applying some fine grappling maneuvers in between. Still, while he was apparently more skilled than his chosen targets their sheer number allowed them to tag him here and there with their own blows. A punch to the cheek there, a low kick to his stomach, the upstart gang was standing toe to toe with the Rocketeer, each side slowly beating down the other surely enough.

Hehh, not bad ehh.

But, we can't dance all night!

Maladi use Flamethrower on Golbat!

Dooku use Flare Blitz on Voltorb!

Pestilence use Pay Day on Serperior!

Famine use use Metal Claw on Serperior, help out Pestilence!

Gram use Play Rough on Seviper!

I'll finish off these three!

Taking a sliding step forward Sebastian would throw a flickering left jab feint to the man directly ahead of him, switching his standing stance to then throw a high switch kick to the man at his left via his right foot. In this he'd connect, sending the gang member crashing into the wall before sliding down onto the floor slumped over and unconscious. Once his foot returned to the ground during a half standing rotation Sebastian would then take to the air, throwing an odd cartwheeling kick at the girl as she rushed him, taking her out next while his own Pokemon began to overwhelm the enemies'. Tackled into some equipment then by the remaining gang member Sebastian would grunt before raising his left arm only to drop it down like a hammer, driving his elbow into his target's spine.

From there he'd dig his right knee into their sternum before then Judo tossing them onto their back before delivering a switch soccer punt kick to their dome, finally having rendered all three opponents unconscious. Bruised and beat on Sebastian would then take time to catch his breath as his Pokemon brought down the last of their enemies too. Huffing and puffing Sebastian would then make his way on over to a computer nearby, discovering that the gang had some Shelder, Slowpoke, and Slowbro locked away in cages deeper inside the cave as well as under water nearby. Using the computer Sebastian would then unlock the cages, releasing the wild Pokemon before wandering about a bit more. Finding a smaller, non-electrical, exit he'd proceed to recall his Pokemon before crawling out of this new path to find his way just some thirty feet deeper into the cave past the initial room where the kids, Oscar, and Deth were.

Straightening his jacket and dusting it off Sebastian would already begin to formulate his explanation as to reappearing a bit beaten up before he even stepped out into the light, already explaining himself once he did.

Hehh, hehh.

Did anyone else see those Zubat getting ready to come terrorize us? Hehh, hehh, me and my other Pokemon managed to drive them off right before they all woke up, but hehh, hehh.

It was a basic enough, but believable enough excuse as long as no one put too much thought into it. For if they did, wouldn't they have wondered why the scuffle was quiet? Why they didn't hear any screaming Zubat?

Sebastian wasn't too bothered with such factors however, a slip of his mind nonetheless.

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Oscar gave the teacher a polite nod as she took her leave. He watched her gather her brood, and when she seemed sufficiently distracted he turned to his "assistant". This guy was an odd one. Why did he go along with Oscar's shenanigans? As a trainer, he had every right to dismiss Oscar's charade, unless he had business here as well.

Oscar cocked an eyebrow and spoke softly, "Zubat eh?" He looked around the cave, it was quite small beside the pond. Not much space for zubat to hide, or Eugene to hide for that matter. Where had he gone?

Oscar wanted to investigate, but the ball in his hand grew heavy. He had gotten what he was sent to get, was there any point in pushing further? Oscar smiled at "Eugene". It was hardly friendly but he shared it nevertheless, "It's probably best we part ways for now."

Alethea Ivanova, Igor

Things had unfolded...unexpectedly and yet Sebastian wasn't too bothered other than the physical stress he was under, which was slowly, but surely subsiding. With the teacher leaving with her students and Glameow returning to his side along with his other Pokemon Sebastian would then simply nod toward his "comrade" though both were unsuspecting in their Rocket relations.

Yeah...Toodaloo I guess....

Since he wasn't sure about the other man's reasons for being there, even though they seemed to be similar to his own, he couldn't just out himself as a Rocket and risk exposure, after all that was a key rule for the group.

You don't talk about Team Rocket.....

And when he was finally alone Sebastian would sigh aloud, sliding his hand through his thick blond locks before returning to the small cave pool nearby. With his feline allies at his side they'd eventually capture both a Slowpoke and Shelder after waiting much longer than expected.

But, at least the job had been completed.

/fin

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