As though the guards blocking the escalator wasn't enough of a sign that they weren't supposed to be on them, Nerissa decided she had to investigate the matter. Unsurprisingly, she was tossed aside, and the entire group was given dirty looks by them. Stella didn't know why they were looking at her that way. She hadn't done anything wrong. She was the one summoned the elevator in the first place. Emil had to be the one to remind Nerissa that the escalator situation was not an issue, and getting to the next Gym was more important.

There were two Gyms close by. Ecruteak in the north, and Azalea to the south. Neither of the two interested her, but the Ecruteak Gym seemed to be the lesser of two evils. In order to get to Azalea, one has to go through the Ilex forest. Possibly encountering all kinds of creepy-crawly, disgusting bugs. Just the thought of the pesky little insects made her skin crawl. Although the Butterfly-like Pokemon were tolerable, Stella found most Bug types atrocious. Even worse, the Gym Leader in that town used Bug types. Stella wasn't going anywhere near that Gym without plenty of insect repellents and pesticides. More Pokemon with an advantage against Bug types wouldn't hurt either...

"Hm, about our next step, I w-" Emil began, before he was interupted by the sudden jerking of the elevator. The force knocked Stella back against the wall. "Goodness gracious! Now the elevators are malfunctioning too?!" Her words were drowned out by the sound of Emil's high pitched scream. If the elevator weren't still falling, she would have giggled. 

Just as quickly as it began, the elevator stopped falling.  the elevator doors slid open, bathing the dark elevator car in bright light. Dark-clad men entered and grabbed the three of them forcibly. "Excuse me?! What do you think you're doing?! Unhand me this instant!" No one answered the question, or did what she asked. They were dragged into another room filled by more dark-clad men and women, and other scared people, backed up against the wall, guarded by an army of Muk. As no one tried fighting, they probably had their Pokemon and belongings taken from them. The sight and smell of the Poison type Pokemon made Stella cringe in disgust.

Stella was suddenly shoved towards the wall. The men who brought her took away her purse and Evangeline's Pokeball.

"Tch, these ones have only got one each." One of the grunts said. He seemed more excited to go through Stella's bag. "Ooh, but this one chick has a rare one! And damn, look at all the cash she's got!"

Stella wasn't about to let some tackily dressed men take her belongings. "You swine! How dare you take my belongings! Give those back now!" Of course, they didn't listen, which only served to make Stella angrier. "YOU WILL BE HEARING FROM MY ATTORNEY! YOU HEAR ME!" Of course, technically it was her family's attorney, not hers. Regardless, legal action would be taken once her possessions were returned. She then proceeded to grab Emil by his wrist, and pull him close to her. "Well? Don't tell me you're just going to stand there helplessly and allow these ruffians to take our things! We have to do something!"