Pokémon: Forever Wounded

Rosie

A week earlier

Prina had scoffed on hearing the news. She rolled her blue eyes, and ran a hand through her blue hair. 

"Kid got stabbed? Fucking idiot. Shouldn't he have known to see it coming? Did he want to get stabbed. Knowing his whining, the kid probably did-" 

Rootsie glared. Prina backed down. 

"You know he's my friend, and you know how I feel about you saying those things about him."

Prina scoffed again, "Just because you're friends with both of us, doesn't mean I have to-"

"Yeah, but you don't have to be a prick about it. Everyone's told you to tone it down. If you don't like him leave him alone"

"Oh, come on!" Prina scoffed, "that kid's asking for it after what he did." 

Rory, who was walking by, spun around and brushed her blue hair out of her eyes, removing obstruction to the line of fire of her steely glare at the aspiring kickboxer.

"Shut up." 

 Prina stood up, practically towering over the less-than-five foot Aurora, "care to say that again."

Rory, not even taking a step back as Prina stepped in front that left the two's shoes practically touching, repeated in the same cadence and pitch, "Shut up." 

"Rory, it's alright," Rootsie sighed, "but, yeah, Prina, you gotta stop. I'm going to Paldea tomorrow, and I don't want you starting anything with Kieran. Leave him alone."

"Fine, I'll leave that onionheaded bastard alone."

Rory was furious, "you don't get to call him that."

"Want me to punt you into the Polar biome, shorty?"

"Calm down Prina!" 

-----------------------------------------------------

Wyndon base, the same day.

Rosie Rose didn't take the pleasure that her father did when extracting what she needed to extract. That being said, she didn't feel the unease that others did either. She felt no guilt, nor sadistic pleasure. It didn't give her a power trip, or a kick, but she wouldn't lie and say it was satisfying to break those who had broken others, to see the worst sorts of people hypocritically scream for mercy.

The same sort of dopamine hit you get from finishing your homework was felt as the spy she had found working in a Macro Cosmos facility yelled out in pain as he was brought in, struggling against two of Rosie's 'enforcers', his desperation betraying his guilt. She'd accidentally captured innocent 17-year-olds who were calmer than this. His arms were tied behind his back, as he was shoved to the floor.

"I swear, I swear!" the man huffed, "I have nothing to do with them I swear! I have nothing to do with the Iron Cult!"

Rosie Rose stepped closer, her voice flat, calm, and civil, "guards. Leave." She motioned for the guards to leave. She smiled warmly, "now how did you end up here? Reply calmly. Calm down. I won't kill you."

Rosie checked her watch, tapping it, "just tell me how you got here."

The man seemed to calm down a bit. Rosie's apparent gullibility allowed his desperateness to be covered up somewhat, "uh- I- I- was- this is a mixup! A mixup, I swear! I, I don't know why you have me here! I don't know who the guys you were talking about! I don't even know their name! I-"

"Don't worry, don't worry, I believe you," Rosie said, innocent smile in face and eyes, sitting up, and walking around him, "my enforcers get mix-ups all the time, you know. End up capturing someone in the wrong place or the wrong time, or one of my enforcers gets a little annoyed with someone and decides to make it my problem. You're probably just one of them," she smiled, high-heels click-clacking as she circled him. The man had stopped sweating. 

Rosie walked towards him and put a hand on his shoulder, "I'll let you go in no time, don't you worry." 

The look in the man's green eyes indicated a wave of relief, as the deadly pale scared face of his left him. Rosie put her hand out and moved it upwards. He stood up. She took off her leather gloves, putting them in her suit pocket. Her hand raised up to her face, as she took her glasses off, put them in the case, and let the sound of the case snapping shut ring around the room. She walked away a bit, took her heels off, losing about an inch, putting on her combat boots.

He saw the harmless Rosie Rose elegantly walk towards him. She went round behind him, and began to undo his ropes. Once they were gone, the muffled sound of her walking with the combat boots on, her hands rubbing together, red from the rope. 

"Listen, I'm sorry, I'm willing to give you some money to compensate for this, you've been so patient with us. We get mix-ups all the time, and I sure believe you," she said compassionately, "I'll be willing to give you a promotion and a pay rise for this." 

"No, it's fine, really," the man smiled back.

Rosie's hands fell to her side and into her jacket pocket, rummaging. She lifted her right leg off the ground, and tapped the heel against the floor a bit.

"At least let me give you something, it's the least I can do for what I've put you through." 

"Well, all right then." 

Rosie rummaged into her jacket pocket, fiddling with empty space for a bit, balling her hand in her fist into a pocket, making sure her hand was on the outside of the balled fist.

"Hold on, I think it's here," she smiled, awkwardly chuckling as he walked up, "sorry to hold you up, I won't be a second."

Her head spun the mathematics round, the angle of his walk, all the numbers leading to one final calculation, one final, correct result, rounding up to this.

The man smiled, "you've been really nice to me, Ms Rose. It's fine, take as long as you need."

"Oh, alright then. I shouldn't really be giving you this, so let me be a bit more secretive about it."

She stepped forward, still fiddling and rummaging for nothing. She walked until she was a step away from stepping on his shoes. She could almost taste his complacency.

"what wa-"

A sharp pain to his gut. The man's hands raced down to the source, looking up to try and make eye contact, but only seeing a shoe that then lined up with his head in forceful succession, causing him to lean over. The air was blown out of his lungs as he fell down on the floor. He saw her leaning over him. His fist instinctively flew out towards her. She casually glided her head away, grabbing the arm, and forcing it to the ground with one boot, as she raised the other.

"No!" the man pleaded, "No! Please no! Please! No!"

No pathetic pleading from such a pathetic hateful man could stop Rosie Rose's boot from crushing the bone in his arm beneath her heel.

"Did you really think I bought all that?" she stepped closer, grinding her combat boot against his other arm, putting more and more pressure by the second, "Now I want a list of names. The names of all of your Iron Cult buddies. The names of all of you terrorists going around kidnapping people, and make that list. Starting now." 

"Please, please."

"I wasn't asking. Give me a list of names, and I'll make it quick. If you're slow with the names though-" she dug her boot deeper into his arm, "I'll make it very, very long."