The map says there’s two routes to the desert. One is through (or over, map isn’t clear) a mountain range in the east and the other way is... similar, but it takes us west to Crevasse Village, that place with those cool magnetized rocks like in Chargestone cave. Given my interest in showing off something cool and Rarity being naturally interested in special rocks, it’s a two-to-one majority vote for Crevasse, Twilight wanting to check out this place called Mushroot which is along the other way through the mountains. We decide on Crevasse now and Mushroot on our way back when we come for our fourth gym badge.
Once everyone’s happy with the arrangement, we step into the thick forest, barely any sunlight coming through the mat of canopy above us, not unlike the second forest we came through a few weeks ago. Has it been a few weeks? Or a few days? Hard to tell, the adventure has me so distracted. It reminds me of how I’d lose entire Summer afternoons playing the games for hours on end. The thought brings a nostalgic smile to my face and the forest is less threatening now, the darkness no longer a sign of worry but a sign of hidden adventure.
Together, we venture in, the light growing dimmer until we are, actually, having some troubles following it. There’s movement in the underbrush, but there’s nothing threatening about it, and the tall grass that lines the road may be swaying, but we’re not in any danger.
I can see the movement of pokémon, most of them staying out of my immediate view, but there’s plenty I can recognize. There’s a few Metapod and Kakuna stuck up in the trees, along with a few similar cocoon pokémon, like one that looks almost like a pile of autumn leaves barely hiding a pair of eyes that watch us cautiously.
The occasional Nidoran, male or female, peeks out as well, wiggling noses and generally looking adorable.
Other than the scenery though, the walk is pretty slow and uneventful. That means it’s safe, but also kind of boring. That said I’m not looking for a battle just yet, don’t want to get back into my grinding habit this soon after coming off it.
We stop for a moment as a small group of Eevee cross the path, playing and goofing around with each other, a large, green-yellow-and-red pokémon I remember being Arachneon shepherding them along and keeping an eye or three on me and the girls, antenna-ear twitching and the hourglass-shaped bands of color on its tail flaring slightly as it watches us. Eventually, the family makes their way across the path completely, and the watchful parent turns and leaves.
Double checking to see if any other pokémon were going to cross, we keep going and we start talking, Rarity starting the conversation asking what those adorable things were.
“Eevee, they’re the ones that can evolve into any type. Not sure how it evolves into that though, I forget. Either way, it’s the Bug variant. Combine that with all the cocoon varieties here I’d say this forest is more ‘Bug’ type than ‘Grass’ like the last couple.”
“And what’s it called?”
“Arachneon, I’m pretty sure. All Eeveelutions, evolutions of Eevee all end in ‘-eon’. Not sure why but I think it’s a clearer way to indicate it being an Eeveelution without having to explain it in detail.”
“So... Like Glaceon?” Rarity asks, likely recalling the ‘absolutely gorgeous’ Ice-Type I brought up at the mansion a while back.
“Yep, that’s the Ice Type variant. Like I said, there’s one Eeveelution for every type except Normal. Normal is the type of Eevee itself.”
Twilight looks back, trying to get another look but they’ve passed by a while back at this point. “Do they make good pets?”
“Oh yeah, great pets, they’re soft, cute, docile... a lot of non-trainers keep them as companions and pets actually.”
“Hmm, that’s good to know. Versatile, appealing visually... Perhaps we should consider one as a gift for the Crusaders? They seem like they’d get along fine, and without as much risk as some of the more... violent pokémon.” Twilight suggests.
“Now that is a good idea. Tell you what, if we catch one, you can send it back along with your next report to Celestia. Just tell them how a pokéball works and who it’s for and they’ll love it, I’m sure.” I think for a moment. “I might send a few evolution stones for them to use if I get one, so they can choose what they want it to be.”
“Alright, that sounds wonderful, Anthony!” Twilight says, beaming at me as we pass a large clearing marked as a public campsite, with a sign asking visitors to clean up after themselves and use the garbage disposal unit for any wastes and uneaten food trash. The sign points to a large, cylindrical metal container, with a sleeping Gulpin in the bottom. Seems like the perfect method of garbage disposal to me.
That said, it’s not even past noon, and we don’t need to stop just yet. “We can make a small camp somewhere else further along. All we need to do is pick up anything we use and throw it away properly later. Potions and the like are recyclable, but they don’t naturally degrade.” Though I think Silph Co. was working on that for future models, but they’re still not environmentally friendly yet as far as I can tell.
“Wait, but why is there a pokémon in that cage?” Twilight asks, looking concerned.
I just laugh. “That’s not a cage, it’s a trash can. That’s a Gulpin. Their body is 80% stomach and their stomach acid can melt down just about anything. So basically it’s like when Applejack gives old food to the pigs. We can’t eat it, but they’ll love it. Only, Gulpin can even eat plastic and rubber. Just not metal as far as I know.”
“Well, that certainly seems efficient. Still, why is it stuck in the trash can? Why not just have it living in the campsite?” she asks.
“I...” I honestly have no idea. “I don’t know, but the little guy seems fine the way he is.” Just to be sure though, I head over to the can. As if sensing my presence, the Gulpin rolls back upright, looking like a bean-bag pillow as it does, and belches, a crumpled soda can flying out to rattle against the garbage can, and looks up at me for a second. The can is, itself, completely clean, nothing but bare aluminum left.
I figure, “What the heck.” and take the aluminum out and crumple it into a ball which I stick in my bag to get rid of later. “He seems happy enough, guess if he’s not complaining there’s no need for us to.” The Gulpin shrugs, and cozies back to sleep.
“Well, if you’re sure.” Twilight says, until we begin to head off again.
Rarity, who’s been quiet this whole time, doesn’t speak up until around twenty minutes later. And, of course, it’s a near-scream, as she points at a stump by the side of the ro- wait, no, the ‘stump’ is moving, and scuttling towards us! It has two small red eyes peeking out from under the stump, and six long and thin legs, black pincer-like claws also jutting out as it menaces us.
“Para! Parasssect!” it says, clicking and gurgling the name.
I don’t recognize the look, but I recognize the name, and I assume it’s another variation native to Otaria like the others. I just tell Rarity that “I got this.” and send out Ghowl. “Aerial Ace!”
My pokémon erupts from her pokéball, and streaks at the Parasect, who gurgles and clicks angrily, taking the hit, which dislodges a small cloud of spores. Ghowl, taking the cloud in the face, crashes to the ground, twitching and shivering, muscles unresponsive. Damn, it’s got Effect Spore!
I return Ghowl and turn to Twilight. “Get Pignite, Parasect are Bug and Grass types!”
Twilight nods, throwing out her own pokémon. The Parasect bristles, the flat mushrooms on its stump flaring and a flurry of spores fly out, though Pignite burns them out of the air before it gets to him.
Twilight yells, “Alright, use Flame Charge!” and her pokémon leaps forward, sheathed in flames. The fiery pig slams into the aggressive Parasect, throwing the dangerous pokémon back, fire burning away the released spores before it can affect Pignite. The pokémon finally goes down, the two hits settling the score for it.
“Alright Twi, looks like you have been practicing.” I say as I check over the Parasect variant from where I am. “Not sure if that’s it though, Parsect are pretty hardy.”
I wait for a twitch or movement from the Parasect. I assume it’s out or playing dead and step closer, Litwick’s ball in my hand. However, the pokémon seems to have simply taken too much punishment too fast, as I realize Twi and I had swapped place with barely any hesitation, and my adrenaline is pumping hard.
Finally, the Parasect shifts, getting unsteadily to its ‘feet’, and gurgles at us again, raising its shaking claws again, menacing us as best as it can in its current state.
I toss out Litwick and turn to Twilight. “I’m thinking a double Ember will finish it off. What say?” She nods, smirking at me confidently.
The Parasect responds by shooting a geyser of spores into the air, and our pokémon start up the ember, only for it to violently detonate the spores, which I now realize is a Powder attack. The explosion throws all our pokémon, Twilight, Rarity, and myself back, and by the time we recover, the Parasect is nothing more than a rustle in the grass and a fading scuttling noise.
I groan to signify my being alive. After a moment, Twilight helps me to my feet, both of us rather shaken. We get Rarity up and backtrack to the campsite for a rest. “Not my best idea...” I admit. “Forgot that could happen. But good response time Twilight... maybe we should do a tag-team tourney sometime.”
“Y-yeah, maybe!” she says, panting a bit, a huge smile on her face. Apparently, I’m not the only one the adrenaline is pumping through.
Rarity straightens out her hair, looking miserable as she tries to get the dust and soot out of her clothes and coiffure.
“Need some help washing off?” I ask. “Maybe Twilight could use Spheal to make a small pool. I... don’t have anything like a wash cloth on me, sorry.”
“No, no, dear, it’s alright. I’ll just need to change clothes when we stop. I suppose it can’t be helped; we are traveling through the wilderness.” she says.
“Right.” With that, we run out of conversation and decide to just get moving again. Hopefully without another encounter. I’ve got a spare repel on me though... “Hey, just to be safe, let’s get some of this stuff on. It’s like bug spray for pokémon.”
“Does it smell like insect repellant?” Rarity asks, clearly not a fan of the idea.
“No clue.” I admit. “But it’s a basic repel, it won’t last that long if we use it between three people. It’s meant to be one per person, but I’ve only got one extra and I’d like us to save ours for emergencies like if our teams are in critical condition and a fight would risk our lives.”
“Alright, that makes sense, let’s save it for later. Still, the books I read stated that encounters like that on roads is pretty rare.” Twilight comments as we get moving again.
“If you think so...” I mutter, putting the repel back in my bag but syncing my éTech with it and setting it to the top of the retrieval list just in case.
So far, Twilight seems right as the Parasect is the only eventful encounter thus far, other pokémon being content to just give us wary looks. All forest pokémon except for one small OOPP*
*Out Of Place Pokémon
A Snorlax. Those live in the mountains... And it’s blocking a fork in the road. God I hope this won’t be like that episode in the Anime. That’d be a disaster.
As we approach cautiously, we see that it’s not fully blocking the road, and there’s someone passed out against the Snorlax. Or, at least, he looks like he’s sleeping. There’s an industrial-sized bag next to the two of them, and the Snorlax reaches into the bag and pulls out... a fistfull the size of my head of Cheetos, brings it to its mouth, and stuffs it full. The man lifts a hand, puts it in the bag, and mimics his pokémon.
“Uh... Hello?” I say, cautiously. Hopefully the guy is just eccentric and not some crazy forest-person.
The guy’s head snaps up, and I see he’s got a small white tube in his mouth, the end smoking. “Oh, hey, sorry bout blocking the road.” he says. “You guys want some food?” he asks, proving once and for all that the Pokémon World’s humans are the best ever.
“Sure!” I realize I haven’t eaten in awhile. I’m still not used to eating regularly now that my star core is dimmer than a 1-watt bulb. I grab the Cheetos and stuff them into my mouth much like the guy and his Snorlax did earlier. When in Rome... damn that is cheesey. I hand some to Rarity but she just takes a look at the dust it leaves on my fingers and makes a gagging noise. Twilight is more adventurous but only uses the tips of two fingers to grab some.
“Scho.” I say, mouth full. “Whatcha doin’ out here? Training?” I then realize how what they were doing was not training of any kind.
“Nah, gettin’ away from my adoring fans. Only so many people I can take a day, y’know?” He shifts to get comfy against his Snorlax again.
“Adoring fans? You a rock star or something?” I ask, confused. He looks like just a normal guy.
“Nah, I’m with the League.” he yawns. “I know a couple rock stars, though. They’re nice, but loud as fuck.” he says. A beeping from his jacket pocket gets his attention, and he checks it. “Ah, damnit... I can’t go six hours without someone needing me... Sorry, guy, I gotta get going. Duty calls and all that.” he says, standing up and dusting off his hands revealing he has a belt with three ultra balls and three pokéballs on it. He pulls out an ultra ball, returns his Snorlax (bag of Cheetos and all) to it, and pulls out a pokéball, throwing out a Pidgeot. “Alright, gotta fly.” he says, hopping on the large bird’s back, and the two zoom off at high speeds.
I pause at the randomness of the encounter and something clicks in my head the moment it unfreezes. “Girls... we just met the Champion.” At their confused looks I explain. “Remember? First he says he’s in the league, and Winston said the Champion has a Snorlax! If he’s not the champion, he’s at least part of the the Elite Four, right!?”
Twilight gasps, looking delighted, then stops. “W-wait... then why is he just sitting in the forest in the middle of nowhere?”
Rarity pipes up as well, asking, “As well, why is he causing such a mess? Aren’t the Champions and Elite four comparable to nobility, albeit based on capability, not lineage?”
I shrug. “Idunno girls. Who are we to judge? I mean, look at us, we’re not even in our own universes. Compare that to just being elsewhere on the same continent and it seems he’s more entitled than we are, champion or not.”
The two nod. “I suppose that makes sense.” Twilight says.
Rarity looks less happy, but also agrees. “I had simply hoped there’d be more... I don’t know, grace to a master pokémon trainer.” she says, sounding pouty.
“Well I don’t know, Rarity, maybe when you become champion, you can decide how the champion should act... oh wait, you’re not taking the league challenge.” My response practically oozes concentrated Snark.
“Hmph. Expectations are not the same as requirements, else we’d have far more problems in the worlds than we already do.”
“I’m just saying that technically speaking, becoming champion shouldn’t make you act any different and he’s no different from any of us. Started from just a starter and a few friends and now he’s at the top. Unless of course you think I don’t have what it takes to be champion, simply because I’m... well, me.” I admit I have many vices I indulge in, including sloth but hell, I like to think I’m champ material anyways.
“No, I’m not saying that... just that you’d act more dignified if you felt you had a reason to.”
I grin. “You’re right, but I think I’d rather have fun being champion than act dignified. Anyways, shall we get going? The day isn’t getting any longer.”
She nods, sighing, and Twilight chuckles. We look at the split road. “Alright, we need to take... the left fork. That’ll take us towards Crevasse Village, and there’s apparently a research facility along the way.” Twilight mentions, looking at her map.
I wave her off. “Eh, I’ve been inside enough labs for the month, but if you really wanna go in...” Twilight nods excitedly so I relent. “Fine, let’s check it out. What company owns it?”
Rarity sighs. “One of these days we’re going to go somewhere I want, like an art gallery or such. You might do well to get some culture.”
I just shrug. “I have plenty of culture. Just not the kind you like. Considering how much I know about pokémon I’m the most cultured one in the group. I’m just not the high-class type of cultured.”
She rolls her eyes and we continue on. Twilight checks the map as we walk. “It says the facility is owned by a local company, but contracts with Devon.” she comments, not paying attention to the path.
I briefly consider waiting for her to walk right into a tree but I just angle her shoulders to aim her back on track while she continues reading the map off her éTech. “Don’t hurt yourself, bookworm.”
Twilight just mutters something about my comment being ‘better than ‘egghead’ at least.’ as we continue. After a bit more walking we come to the landmark of a facility and take a look at it, Twilight not having been able to actually describe what it looks like. It’s a tall, cylindrical building, like a can of soda with a half a golf ball on top, the domed roof covered in little pits and windows. The whole thing looks really pristine, and I can see a scientist-looking guy and a ranger, with a Wooper next to him, talking outside the door. The scientist looks ready to tear the hair from his head, and the ranger doesn’t look happy either. At this distance, I can’t hear what they’re saying, though.
We walk up to the door and Twilight seems a bit uneasy at the situation so I do the talking as usual. “Is this a bad time?”
The scientist looks up. He sighs. “Y-yeah, it’s a bad time...” he brightens. “Or maybe not! Hey, can I send you kids to help me find something? A thief broke in, and stole some of our lab equipment and a few pokémon. They’re vital to our research!”
“Chainers?” Comes Twilight's immediate and slightly fearful question. The scientist nods.
The Ranger speaks up, “One of those pokémon is a rare one, called Radiotite. It’s very dangerous, and gives off radiation constantly. It’s a hazard to all nearby pokémon and animals.” he explains. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any pokémon in the nearby area I can recruit to help, except maybe to find it, but that’d put them at risk too. This is a job I need trainers for, if you’re willing to help.”
I sigh. “Well, usually when we deal with Chainers, Xavius is around to help but it looks like a Ranger is the best we’re getting. What do you think girls, bet we can handle this?”
Twilight and Rarity think it over. “Well, we’d be poor examples for everypo- body back home if we turned down the chance to help someone with a problem like this.” Rarity says, straightening up confidently. “We’ll put down that Chainer, and rescue the pokémon! Carefully, of course.”
The scientist nods. “Alright, you’ll want some radiation suits, then. We have some inside, and these’re pretty unisex.” he says, waving us in, and heads inside.
...Aren’t radiation suits already unisex? I mean, they’re blocky enough for any body type like a firefighter outfit, right? We go in, and see that there’s, for one thing, a basement. In said basement, there is what can only be a nuclear power chamber, but it’s been busted into, and there’s a Conkeldurr in a massive yellow radiation suit bending the thick, reinforced radiation shielding back into place, on the other side of a blast window.
“Here, the suits are in this locker. Take one of the ones labeled ‘Guest’, as the others are fitted to particular researchers.” he says, gesturing to a series of yellow, heavy duty radiation suits. I see one of the female researchers in one, and refine my opinion of the idea of them all being unisex. For one, it’s clear she’s a she, and there’s clearly defined armor plating around the vital organs, and several sections of the suit are definitely for holding pokéballs, and a gauntlet on her left arm has a flip-top computer built into it. On the, er, rear hip region of the suit, I can see a Magma Innovations stamp, meaning it must be one of the other suits mentioned back in the Devon building.
Damn, these are high-tech. Alright then. I head for the locker labelled ‘Guest’ as instructed and see that the girls are already trying to get into their suits. I grab my own and it takes some time since it’s still a little big on me on top of being stiff and rubbery. I feel like I should hardly be able to move once I get this thing on all the way, but the woman researcher seems fairly dextrous so I guess it’s only uncomfortable getting it on.
It’s tight around the shoulders and thighs but the lower legs, chest, and arms are a bit too big, clearly not meant for someone of my body type, but it’s the only suit available for me so I keep going and eventually I’m kitted up, and I barely recognize the girls with their suits on, them clearly having gotten suits similar to mine, though they wear them better despite being completely identical with them on. “Can you two hear me from inside this thing?”
There’s a click, and I hear Twilight’s voice from speakers built into the helmet. “Yes, it seems that there’s some kind of transmitter built into the helmet. I can see a few buttons, I think they’re chin-activated...” she says, looking it over thoughtfully. Looking down myself, I can see that they’re labeled, two for channel selection, and one for the emergency frequency.
“Alright, then. Guess we’re set.” I grab my pokéballs and stick them in the suit’s ball-slots and I heft my bag back over my shoulder, then pause. “Wait... our stuff could get irradiated, right? We should probably leave our gear behind in case...” I say, not liking the idea of going in potionless to a possible Chainer den.
“We can look after your stuff for now. We’ll lend you a few Max Revives and some Full Restores.” he says, offering me a small, yellow pouch, which he sticks to my hip. It simply locks into place, possibly magnetically, and has a simple, easy-access top. “If your pokémon start suffering radiation sickness, a Full Restore will fix that. It’s functionally identical to Poisoning or Burns, so respond accordingly.” he says.
I sigh, glad I can bring along some healing equipment, not to mention stuff I can’t legally buy myself but this seems like an emergency. If the League has a problem with this circumstance, the Ranger doesn’t say so. Once we’re comfortable with the new locations of our items and pokémon as well as our communication system we proclaim ourselves ready. Then an idea hits me. “How do we track the Chainers?”
“Chainer, singular, and he left a trail that’s easy to follow: All the dead vegetation. That Radiotite wasn’t happy about being taken.” The ranger says.
“Works for me. Hopefully this is going to be like the Chainer that tried to mug us and taken down easily... relatively speaking.” Twilight comments.
“Right, we don’t want to think that it will be easy though.” I warn. “Pride comes before the fall.”
“That was... very poignant of you, Anthony.” Rarity says.
“It’s a saying.” I say, tilting my head. “Don’t act full of yourself or you’re asking for karmic whiplash.”
“Indeed.” she says, voice slightly tinny from the comm link.
“So, we all ready?” I ask, figuring it wouldn’t hurt to ask again just to be sure. The both give their affirmative, and the researchers and ranger give us good luck wishes.
Outside, the trail is clear, now that I know what I’m looking for, the yellowed, dead foliage giving a clear, if wobbly trail to follow.
“So what do our Cutie Marks mean?” Twilight asks confusing me greatly.
“Cutie Marks?”
“These.” She says, indicating the logos on our hips and I recall the tradition of putting Cutie Marks on armor in Equestria, and the logos are almost where a cutie mark would be, albeit much smaller and with text next to them.
“It’s the logo of the people who designed it, Team Magma in this case.”
“Oh.” Twilight says, the conversation ending as we walk through the path of dead wilting plants. “So what could the Chainers do with a... whatever they stole? Aside from the apparently obvious that is.”
“Not sure.” I admit, and I search the gauntlet computer to see if it has an éTech. It doesn’t, not really, but it does have a directory of radiation-wielding pokémon.
The one they mentioned, Radiotite, is listed as a local pokémon, and has a linked pokedex entry:
Radiotite, the Radiation pokémon
- These pokémon generate impressive amounts of heat and electricity. Their radioactive natures make them dangerous to be around.
- They tend to find places where they will cause the least harm as they don't wish to be harmful to others. However, just having them out for extended periods of time can irradiate huge areas of the land.
Void Type
Huh... that seems ridiculously dangerous. No wonder the ‘nuclear room’ was breached; it must’ve been where the Radiotite was being kept. It looks almost like a Radiation warning symbol, made of uranium rods and a central core, like the middle of a bomb. It also kinda looks like it’s wearing goggles fit for a mad scientist. Not sure about the implications on that.
“Doesn’t say much really other than how dangerous it’s mere presence is. And it’s a Void type like those Space pokémon too. So I’m guessing they’ll probably use it like a bomb and use it to threaten innocents.”
“That sounds really bad...” Twilight says, and I agree, as does Rarity. That said, there’s not much more conversation fodder so we just follow the literal trail of destruction to its inevitable end... but what we’ll find is still unknown.
After ten minutes of walking, we see a Nidorino, almost knocked out and smoking from a really nasty burn along its side. It’s laying by the side of the path of dead plants, and is definitely in a lot of pain. It barely reacts to us showing up, other than weakly trying to move away from us.
I’m tempted to use a Full Restore on it, though the thought is combatted by my strategy game instincts to save it for emergencies on my team, not a wild Pokémon.
It is more of a Ranger’s job. The best thing to do is to take it to the Ranger we left, but it would easily take two of us to carry a Nidorino. And we can’t split up here in potential Chainer territory. This is a problem...
Rarity, always the Element of Generosity, uses one of her own Full Restores on it and coaxes it back deeper into the forest away from the radiation-sick path. She keeps proving how good a breeder she makes, doesn’t she?
Twilight is mostly shocked at how effective the Full Restore was. “I know we shouldn’t have these yet, but these are a lot more effective than Super Potions. Even Leichengst still has a few bruises after using a Super Potion, and he’s usually in worse condition than that Nidorino was.”
“Yeah, but Leichengst doesn’t have that much HP, and neither does a Nidorino. Super potions heal about fifty HP. For weaker pokémon, that’s a ton but on mid-tier pokémon it’s not. You’d use a Hyper Potion or such which heals two hundred HP per use. Full Restores are, as the name suggests, a full heal for pokémon who have a ton of health like a snorlax or kangaskhan. It also heals status effects at the same time, hence the Burn getting healed as well. The point of preventing us from buying it is that they’re expensive and overdoing it usually. Don’t practice CPR on someone who just has a scraped knee and all, you know?”
The explanation over, we continue on through the dead foliage and hope we get there before the Chainer can get away or call for backup, or whatever he plans on doing.
About three minutes later, we pause as a loud explosion rocks the forest, sending leaves scattering to the forest floor. Looking up, through a gap in the trees, a thirty-foot-tall mushroom cloud rises, something that looks like snow beginning to fall from the hovering cloud.
I silently pray it’s ash and not shrapnel or worse, because it’d likely fall on us unless we get clear. The girls don’t seem to understand what a mushroom cloud symbolises, but they get the word ‘Bomb’ pretty easily and that’s all the explanation I need to give and they duck and cover. I follow suit, but I end up in a very uncomfortable position with my suit getting even tighter around the chest. Eventually I can’t hold the ball-shape and just watch the cloud, still hovering menacingly and letting loose little flakes of ash, but it doesn’t seem to be expanding beyond its thirty-foot height. There’s also no blast wave. Still, that’s probably a good indicator of which direction to go.
I get up and start moving slowly forward, but one of the girls grabs me by the arm. Rarity suggesting that it’s, “not wise to be walking toward an explosion.”
“Yeah, but how else are we gonna get that pokémon back? Unless you wanna see that happen in a populated area.”
The girls relent, and I lead us towards the mushroom cloud, the air turning thick with ash and tinted green, until we come to a large clearing, where we hear someone yelling and swearing.
“Get in the fucking ball! I don’t care what kinda special effects you can make!” Peeking through the devastated foliage around the blasted clearing, I can see a pokémon, definitely the Radiotite, hovering a little ways back from a guy in a radiation suit. The guy is brandishing a black-and-purple pokéball, with a chain design made of capital C’s instead of the usual band. Definitely a theft ball of some kind, and the three with stretchy bands around them to keep them from opening are likely holding other pokémon from the research facility.
“Radii!” the pokémon yells shrilly, then releases a torrent of toxic-looking goop, which simply slides off the stolen suit. It’s looking tired, and the mushroom cloud is starting to dissipate now, the ash no longer falling and the air turning clear. Evidently, it’s a field or weather move of some kind.
I decide to take full advantage of the suit’s air filters and toss out Litwick, ordering a Smog cloud. My plan being to rush the guy while he’s distracted and hopefully blinded by the haze.
Litwick pops out and blasts the smog out, but the guy simply turns with a ‘huh?’ and looks at us, then snarls behind his helmet. “Oh, c’mon! Really? Well, I can’t deal with distractions right now... Machamp, go! Break ‘im in half! Ignore the candle.” he says, and throws out a pokéball, a branded Machamp forming out of the light, the pokémon bearing a nasty-looking scar where one eye used to be.
Then it hits me; that chainer ordered the Machamp to go after me, not Litwick. I can only think of one Pokémon who could help me. A literal bigger fish. “Gulpar, open wide!” I yell as I toss the Depth Ball, running as fast as I can away from the Machamp.
The four-armed pokémon stomps towards me, until Gulpar appears, mouth gaping wide as it reveals itself. The mouth is easily three times wider than the Machamp is tall, and the fighting-type realizes quickly it’s outmatched.
“Litwick, Confuse Ray!” I command, hoping to stall the Machamp Further. “Girls, Help me out! Gulpar, Dive!”
The Chainer throws out two more pokémon of his own, a pokémon that looks like a cockroach made out of a roach motel, ironically, and a pokémon that is definitely in the Eevee family... and looks berserk already. Before either pokémon can be given orders, a blast of ice comes out of the forest from ten feet to my left, hitting the Chainer himself, and Rarity comes out of the woods nearly twenty feet to my right, Glorious in her hands and her entire helmet lit with blue light from the inside, as if there’s azure flames inside the helmet instead of her head. She advances on the two pokémon, sword-pokémon held in a guard stance.
I toss out Geodude as well and order a Magnitude on the field, Litwick to use Flame Burst on the likely-bug-type cockroach pokémon, and Gulpar to strike from his dive.
Gulpar reacts first, phasing up out of the ground with a spray of water and slamming into the Machamp, still disoriented from the Confuse Ray. With its mind and body unbalanced it falls over. That’s when Magnitude hits and the ground begins to shake. Everyone aside from Geodude and Rarity seems pretty unbalanced and the Flame Burst hits just slightly to the left of its target, making the burst effect required to do any damage at all.
The Chainer, iced to the tree is shouting obscenities and trying to free himself, and the Radiotite moves in towards him, a sickly green light forming around its body as it does so. The Chainer notices, and his shouting turns to screaming, until a silvery-green beam fires out towards him. It plows through the tree he’s iced to, and he stops screaming.
All three of the Chainer’s pokémon look towards the shredded tree the remaining bits of person left attached to it, and begin covering their heads and shaking, violently.
Before I can figure out what’s going on, it gets worse, and the Machamp begins having what can only be a seizure, foaming at the mouth and thrashing hard enough to leave massive rents torn from the forest floor. The bug is doing much the same, and the Eeveelution is thrashing and throwing clods of dirt and stone far enough it’s actually burrowing into the earth.
“Shit! Get them some Full restore. They’re gonna go into shock if left like that! Twilight, you get the pokémon he stole. Rarity...” Rarity seems to be coming off her weird symbiotic state she gets when she holds Glorious and looks a bit dazed so I decide to let her rest and apply the Full Restore myself. “Twilight, forget the pokémon, get the ranger here, now!”
I’m not qualified for first aid on a pokémon, but the ranger is. I ration the full restores out to the pokémon as best I can with the two I was given across three pokémon. It’s not going to be as complete a heal as it should be.
Twilight is already off like a shot, into the forest. Rarity shakes her head, Glorious going back to its sheath, and begins to pull out her own supplies. However, there’s a problem. Any pokémon here is many times stronger than myself, Machamp unbelievably more so. I haven’t missed my powers more than now, because that Machamp’s thrashing is keeping me from getting close. A hand barely taps a huge tree and sends it flying; there’s no way I’d be able to survive getting closer than that.
The Eeveelution is practically buried, and has stopped moving entirely, and the roach’s two eyes have started glazing over, the pokémon foaming at the mouth in purple and green, but otherwise unmoving.
Shit, we need that Ranger, now! Come on... think. What can I do? I rack my brain for options and come up with one to help the Machamp. “Gulpar, wrap up Machamp, keep its arms tied as best you can. Litwick, give this to the roach-thing.” I say, passing a full restore to the candle. “Rarity, you handle the Eeveelution.” She looks towards the hole, nodding, and moves towards it. I grip the remaining Full Restore in my hand and wait for Gulpar’s restraints to work.
The eel pokémon wraps around the seizing Machamp and hisses at it as the pokémon thrashes blindly, eyes rolled fully back. Litwick is over by the roach, trying to puzzle out the potion. In spite of having seen the thing in use before, it just doesn’t seem to understand how to make it work. Damn hold item restrictions...
I get the Full restore in my hand to the machamp, just spraying it in general, not really sure where to aim most of it at. Once the bottle sputters, signaling it’s emptiness, I look at the Machamp and note that it didn’t do any good at all. The tied-down Machamp is still going nuts. I leave Gulpar and head towards Litwick, taking the potion. Once again, the Roach seems unaffected by the cure-all and I assume Rarity is having similarly bad luck on her end.
“Damnit Twilight, where’s that Ranger?” I ask out loud, and Rarity gives a gasp, and I turn to see that she’s got a hand to her mouth, or at least her helmet over her mouth. I cringe. It died. It must have died. Damnit... We’re too late. I stand up, calling back my team, Gulpar included. I failed them. Whatever that Chainer did to them, or what the Radiotite did, is out of my hands.
A few minutes later, the Ranger runs into the clearing, no suit and slightly out of breath, looking at the the Machamp, who is heaving for breath and still unresponsive, and the cockroach pokémon, who has stopped gurgling, and actually looks to be recovering, hopefully.
He pulls out what would look like a toy on anyone else, barely pausing to swear, and a Jigglypuff sitting on his shoulder does something to it, and a pink-colored ribbon of energy pours out, wrapping around the struggling Machamp. The fighting type slowly stops thrashing, and its breathing goes normal, eyes closing as it slips into slumber. The Jigglypuff nods once to the Ranger, and hops off, heading back into the forest, its job done.
“The Hostileon...” I manage. I think it’s a Hostileon at least. Would have to be one of the ‘negative bond’ evos and it didn’t look ghostly like Spectreon. “I think it’s... Gone.”
The ranger nods. “Most likely... this has been a problem with taking on any Chainer above recruit level. A lot of them have pokémon with hypnotic suggestions implanted in their minds to make them have a seizure if their trainer is put out of commission... speaking of, where’s the Chainer himself?” he asks, looking around in confusion. I realize that the blasted tree that Chainer had been on looked very much like it had simply been hit by the initial blast.
“The Radiotite. It just... blew him apart with a beam of some kind. He was over there.” I say pointing to the tree. “Now he’s over there. And there... and... you get the joke.”
The ranger nods again. “Radium Pulse. Steel attack; wouldn’t be blocked by the suit.” he says, gulping slightly, as he see the Radiotite, who is hovering in the middle of the field, the three rods around it circling slowly as it stares at the epicenter of its field of destruction. It looks... sad, actually.
“Arceus...” I breathe. “So what do we do now?”
“We get this one to a Pokémon Center!” Rarity shouts, holding the Hostileon. The Ranger goes over to check it, putting some fingers by it’s neck.
His eyes go wide, and he gasps. “It’s still alive!” he says, quickly scooping the dirt and debris away from the pokémon, carefully lifting it, in spite of getting numerous scratches and punctures from the short, sharp spikes coming out of its fur. The pokémon is barely breathing, spiked tail hanging limp. The Ranger looks at me. “Can you get the stolen pokémon back to the Research facility? I‘m going to need to make a sprint to get this guy to help before it’s too late.” he says, even as another spike opens up yet another wide, bleeding gash on his chest.
He must get those a lot... “Uh, The roach-thing maybe. The Machamp... No, not like this. I’d need to carry it in a ball.”
“I’m going to put down a beacon, League members will be here shortly, but this Hostileon can’t wait a half-hour; I’m going to be moving fast.” he says, crouching into a sprinter’s stance, dropping a small, cubical device that starts beeping, before getting a secure grip on the Hostileon. “I’ll contact you three later; gotta go!” he says, concern in his voice before he takes off, easily four times faster than Twilight had, and I see him begin to skip between trees, jumping from one to the next with movements I’d only attribute to an anime character, not a real person.
So I guess we just sit here and wait for the League to get these two. No, wait... Maybe. I go over to the roach thing and try to lift it. Failing that I attempt to roll it over onto it’s side for a better lifting angle.
Slowly, it gets to its feet on its own, looking up at me with a faintly dizzy, confused look. “Smok~?” it says, in a querying tone. I notice it doesn’t have any Chainer symbols on it.
“Are you okay?” I ask, figuring I’ll be able to at least interpret a simple yes or no.
It shakes its head, blinks unevenly, then nods, slowly. It looks around, apparently not sure where it is. It may have been simply stolen, thrown in a ball, and handed out, and hasn’t been out since it was taken. Or even caught wild. It looks up at me, and the little vents on its sides give a puff of smoke and a sound like an exasperated sigh. The smoke smells foul, but doesn’t seem to be dangerous.
“We got rid of the Chainer, but we need help.” I explain. “The League will be here in a bit for the Machamp. What should we do with you?”
The pokémon gives a sound like ‘Idunno’, and steps a little to the side, nibbling at some grass, then at a rock, then at some, uh, leftover Chainer. It doesn’t seem to distinguish between any of them. It eats all three pretty evenly.
“This your habitat? If you’re comfortable here, you’re free to go I suppose. Do you have a trainer you were stolen from?”
The pokémon shakes its head to my first and second questions. It begins nibbling on a chunk of glass from the Chainer’s suit, and it looks kind of adorable as it does, little legs holding the clear piece of glass to its face as it noms away at it.
“So what do we do with it then?” Rarity asks and I admit I’m unsure.
“Said it doesn’t live here... so we have to find a home for it. Hold on.” I point my éTech at the pokémon and bring up its data. Which is interesting to say the least.
Smokroach, the Survivor Pokémon
- These pokémon are surprisingly hardy, living virtually anywhere in Rustoil they aren't exterminated from. They can ingest materials even other poison-types find too toxic.
- A Smokroach can't be killed without completely destroying the body. They can live for months without their heads, and still breed with more than fifty percent of their bodies missing.
- Smokroach infestations are serious business. They'll eat virtually anything, and that includes the foundations of houses and skyscrapers. They are a major problem in Rustoil Metropolis, but aren't found anywhere else in Otaria.
- Rumors of a Smokroach colony have surfaced in Black city, far away in Unova. The city officials deny any such infestation.
Bug and Poison Types
Huh, so it’s not even remotely local, at least to this forest. And it seems like a durable pokémon, too, no wonder the Chainer had one. They seem like great sabotage pokémon, for sure.
Wait... the first grunt we caught said he was from Rustoil, and the Dex says that’s where this thing comes from. Is Rustoil a location of a Chainer base or something? There’s two points of information pointing to Chainer activity there at least, but the League probably already knows this, right? First things first, what to do about the Smokroach. “I guess we wait for the League to transport it back to Rustoil City to be released. The Machamp... I’m really worried about. Don’t know if it’ll go back into shock when it wakes up or not.”
Rarity shrugs, and Twilight finally shows up, panting and gasping for breath. Seems that Ranger moved a whole lot faster than her by a long shot. She looks around, takes a few breaths, and then says, “I told the research folks that their pokémon are... are here. A couple of them are... are suiting up to come get them.” she says, then leans against a tree, trying to get her breath back in whole. “Humans really... can’t run that fast... or far.”
I just nod in response. “The Ranger left with the Hostileon, it’s alive for now. The Smokroach is perfectly healthy... the Machamp is still immovable and the League will be here to pick it up to a Center.” I say, giving a full update. “Honestly, for another go against the Chainers, this is by far the worst one yet.”
Twilight and Rarity nod. We wait largely in silence for another twenty minutes, until the sound of some kind of rotors or something catch our attention. Overhead, a vehicle comes into view, looking like a stubby-winged plane with powerful turbines in the wings, making it a VTOL of some kind, and it demonstrates this by coming down to land in the blast crater, the Radiotite moving out of the way. Immediately, medical staff and people in combat armor with the League symbol on it stream out of the VTOL, and begin to fan out.