First Move
First Move
Setup
Kalos region
Route 15, Lost Hotel
Three minutes to rendezvous.
A fully suited man waited nervously between his many bodyguards, his abundant body mass making his constant sweating much easier to notice with each passing second in the decrepit ruins, yet that didn’t bother him. He was more anguished to know the result of his investment; after all, there were a lot of zeroes involved.
Two minutes to rendezvous.
The place was a wreck: the paint was all dried up, the wallpaper was rolling all over, graffiti and what seemed to be rollerskate marks decorated every wall. The few lights that remained flickered constantly and the air was damp and warm which in turn make the stench even more sickening. But none of that mattered to the Silph Co. executive. No matter how much the sweat stain grew over the shirt around his buxom neck, the really important thing was the meeting.
One minute to rendezvous.
More warm sweat oozed from the business tycoon while he mumbled “If anyone on the board gets to know… total failure of a… the work of my life… all in ruins… his entire fault!”, desperation more than clear in his fat face with each passing sentence as he hugged a black suitcase close to his fat chest. The bodyguards surrounded him closely, a stone-like look on their faces, hands holding red and white spherical devices -pokèballs- tightly inside their black suits, all faking calm yet nowhere as calm as the pair of black eyes carefully looking at them.
Rendezvous.
“How long is he planning to make me wait!?” exclaimed the fat man at the verge of an hysteria attack, “I thought mercenaries treasured timing!”
“It’s not our fault you and your men decided to arrive thirty minutes before schedule,” said a cold and adamant feminine voice from behind, taking by surprise not only the embodiment of capitalism, but also every bodyguard in the room. The sentence had not been finished when most of them were already turned toward the voice, Pokéballs in hand and ready to be thrown.
“…”
Yet they all stopped in the act, not by fear but by surprise as they found no woman speaking to them, instead what they all saw was perhaps the strangest thing any of them have ever seen, considering they all lived in a world where creatures of enormous power could easily be stored in baseball sized devices. Before them lie what seemed to be a bipedal being not taller than a youngster, wearing a full set of red and grey armor over its entire body, with what seemed to be blades ranging from pendulums on its chest to a halberd in the middle of its helmet-like head. The only thing that showed signs of life where its tiny cold eyes looking at them. After a few instants the guards recognized the creature as the sword blade Pokémon: Bisharp.
A single Bisharp had suddenly and somehow entered the room and placed herself behind them without being noticed. That alone was enough to cool the thick man’s sweat quite some degrees. Nevertheless he was still sweating a lot.
“… I see your Pokémon” exclaimed the fatso after a few seconds “now show yourself so we can end this once for all.”
The Bisharp made a somehow irritated expression and replied “Well, isn’t that rude from you? Demanding audience with us and now ignoring it.” needless to say it wasn’t only the white suited man whose mouth went agape at the sight.
“Y-yo-you c-a- you talk!?” exclaimed one of the guards.
“So can you apparently,” the Bisharp deadpanned, “yet you make it sound to be a difficult task,” she added with obvious sarcasm, much to the shame of the guard and a general glare from his kind in the room. With that said she started to walk towards them, but instead passed by as if they were a mere decoration.
“Why you petulant creature!” The fatty angrily refuted as it was about to stop her with a chubby hand on her shoulder, but a single glare from over it was enough to make him reconsider.
“…follow me,” was all she said as she walked out the room, guiding them somewhere else into the hotel.
The group of humans kept a safe distance from the Bisharp as they followed, steps filling the ruins; meanwhile they took the chance to properly look at her and notice some differences from a regular specimen of her kind. Firstly, she was rather thin, almost looking fragile, but her gaze made them think differently. Second was the metallic skirt she was wearing. It supported the same tones as the rest of her body while covering her legs from her back to her sides, leaving a gap at the front for her to move and probably run. Third was the proportioned broadsword resting on her hip. Finally, but not least, was a single piece of immaculate red cloth resting on her left arm, supporting the mercenaries’ logo: an ensemble of black and white squares inside of a circle with every chess piece on it, save the pawns.
“…s-so…a talking Pokémon, huh?” finally said the fat man after a while of what seemed to be aimless walking. It was only to be greeted by silence, yet he pushed “Your boss sure is as eccentric as they say…” -this time obtaining a response.
“If by eccentric you mean different from your kind, then yes, he definitely is eccentric,” responded the Bisharp without looking back. “Especially from the likes of you,” she added, much to the displeasure of the already vexed fat man, but before he could reply back she turned to them and pointed to a door “We are here.”
“Hmph!” arrogantly exclaimed the man while passing besides her, intentionally hitting her on the shoulder while at it -just to notice how hard her body actually was. She merely smiled as she guarded the door.
With nothing else to say, the whole group entered the room, which turned to be the exact same empty room they were in a few minutes ago. “IS THIS SOME SORT OF JOKE!” exclaimed the fat man as its pent up aggression exploded, making his chubby face red with anger -a rather silly sight.
“If you were to arrive at the arranged hour…” another cold voice said behind him once again, making the same reaction as before, with the only difference being that it came from a male this time -a human male- resting his back against the wall on the other side of the room. He was wearing a simple dark-grey duster which covered his body entirely and a bit of his face, while a pair of sunglasses covered his gaze, which his eyes seemed to be examining them from beneath as he continued, “We wouldn’t have to make you walk aimlessly so we could take our positions.”
There was another moment of silence until one of the guards asked, “… we?” and as these words left his lips the lights flickered on once again, revealing that the rest of the walls were also surrounded with shadows lying against them. Their presence was nowhere to be sensed, but their killer intent was.
“So,” said the man with the sunglasses, ”shall we talk business Mister Aurum?”
After the initially frightening introduction, the fat man proceeded to show a calmer demeanor, sitting in front of the mercenary at a respectful distance as he asked about his errand, to which the mercenary coolly replied. He told him how they found ‘him’ rather quickly and how he was sorry to assume that the suspicions he had regarding ‘him’ were indeed correct.
“BLAST HIM TO THE DEEPEST REGIONS OF GIRATINA’S REALM!” exclaimed the fat man furiously. “Is this how he repaid me after all I have done? After the countless hours I expended expanding our wealth? The many privileged colleges I made him attend? The wife I even chose for him!? And he goes and… and…!” The air started to fault Mr. Aurum, quite literally, as his reddish skin became almost purple.
The mercenary however remained calm and collected the whole time, his expression covered by his getup. A few minutes had to pass for Mr. Aurum to finally return to his calmer ‘business expression’ as he continued with a melodic voice that dripped venom on every word, “but I am sure you were able to remove ‘that’ from my failure-of-a-son’s life, right?”
Here, the mercenary finally let go a single sign of human emotion, a sigh. “Almost… we were able to hunt down his lov… his Pokémon alone and then proceeded to take care of her swiftly-“
“That filthy beast didn’t deserve that!” interrupted Mr. Aurum abruptly, causing the Bisharp to clench her blade’s hilt; the mercenary however didn’t seem to care as he continued.
“…We proceeded to deal with her as quickly as possible when your son, Aurum the Second, arrived at the place. We continued since he would more likely have been aware of our existence from then on and made it impossible for us to succeed. But in a last attempt to save the Pokèmon, he foolishly jumped into one of our attacks, forfeiting his life in the process.” There was a pause as the mercenary added, “We understand if the payment is canceled,” the last part said with a bit of compassion.
“How dare you…!” exclaimed one of the body guards only to be stopped by a gesture of his superior. ‘Apparently this one knew the boy’ the mercenary thought. Meanwhile Mr. Aurum didn’t say a word, his gaze on the ground.
“How can we be sure?” asked the head of the bodyguards, causing Mr. Aurum to jolt as a result. “How can we know he didn’t pay you to let him go?”
At these insinuation, the Bisharp at the door and shadows on the walls reacted angrily. “Watch your tongue, human! Don’t you dare to compare us with your kind!”
The guards almost forgot she was standing behind them and that she could talk, which made them all the more surprised of her words. However, she didn’t seem to do more than talk some sense into them.
Then the mercenary continued, “So… proof then?” With a quick movement he opened his coat, revealing a bunch of Pokéballs on his belt as well some at extra holders over his chest and what appeared to be another one on a necklace. The reaction from the guards was immediate this time, all of them taking out their Pokéballs, except for one whom instead took out a spherical, machine-looking creature from his clothes. Magnets and coils were around its metallic body while its one and only eye looked at its target, waiting for the indication to attack.
At this sight the shadows glared menacingly since they didn’t expect a Magnemite to be smuggled into the meeting. Yet before anything dangerous happened, the mercenary added, “Is this the evidence you want?” and continued to reach for something beyond his own Pokéballs.
He took out a rather simple, big, blood soaked pouch and showed it to the humans.
Some of the guards reacted with disgust while the rest simply looked surprised, all but their boss and Mr. Aurum. “Please! Don’t tell me you are pulling the ‘heart out of the chest’ routine on us?” retorted the guard, Mr. Aurum watching in silence.
With a slow motion he opened the bag and carefully placed a hand into it, being careful not to show its contents as he slowly pulled something out of it, something fleshy and hairy.
“DEAR ARCEUS ABOVE!” said with horror the head of the guards as the mercenary held the severed head of Aurum the Second in his hand, a mortise expression mocking them all.
“Is this evidence enough?” replied the mercenary
Suddenly the head was snatched out of his hands by Mr. Aurum so fast he flinched for a second, but Weiss waited for him to say what he thought would be one final goodbye to his son while adding, “We made it look like an accident. His body was torn beyond recognition.”
Mr. Aurum looked closely at the head he held on his hands, mumbling things like ‘he never used to shave…’ or ‘this is the scar of…’ and ‘his birthmark’. After some minutes of this Mr. Aurum finally rose his face up, tears filling his eyes as he exclaimed, “How can I thank you for this?!” a tone of supreme bliss and a celestial expression on his face. “Now I can finally rest at night with this dealt with,” and with no other word or even a single sign of remorse, he kicked the head of what used to be his son to the corner of the room.
The mercenary replied coldly, “… just pay us and leave.” His expression was still the same, but there was so much dislike toward the chubby man before him it easily made him feel sick.
“Oh but of course! Where are my manners?” and with an elegant move from his hands, Mr. Aurum showed him the contents of his suitcase. “Easily thousands, if not a million, of Poké-dollars’ worth in nuggets, pearls, stardust and star pieces. This should about cover it, right?”
“… yeah, this covers it all right,” said back the mercenary with some satisfaction, quickly getting over his initial disgust.
‘Just another human’ thought Mr. Aurum. Once the contents were examined and passed over to belong to the mercenaries, the negotiation was officially done. “You can go from the same way you all came from.” The Bisharp moved out the way of the door. “My team will not follow you, but don’t try anything smart!” added Weiss in the end with a threatening tone.
Mr. Aurum didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. He looked as if he just got promoted on his job. “Be at ease, I will not tempt fate after getting rid of such a burden, but...” added the fat man before leaving, again using its melodic voice “...won’t you like to work for me? I am sure I can make good use of someone like you.”
The mercenary fell silent, as if thinking.
Weiss was already tired of having to deal with such a scumbag of an individual in such an ironically fitting place for Mr. Aurum, and couldn’t wait for the moment he walked out of his sight once and for all. ‘At least they don’t want the job to be free like others’ thought the young man as he kept his silence in the room. That always made them think he would consider their offer, while simply thinking on more important stuff like ‘what to do for dinner’ or ‘we are running out of berries.’
“...”
Making them wait long enough, Weiss replied, “As ‘invigorating’ as your offer sounds-” ‘that sounds cool, right?’ he thought “-I’m afraid I have to pass. I don’t personally like jobs like this.”
“A shame,” replied the fatty with a clear expression of defeat. “Well, I will give you a call if I ever need your hand on some other delicate matter,” to which Weiss thought ‘not in this life… and neither the next one!’ as they left.
And so the humans walked away with the magnemite floating close by. The hallways were echoing with footsteps and laughter from Aurum as if he were the happiest, gentlest and most caring man in the world. Finally there was the sound of a slamming door and with it a general sigh, a feeling of calm filled the room as every man and Pokèmon relaxing.
“That sure was longer than it needed to be,” said the talking Bisharp, Shredder, as she walked into the room, a chorus of Pokémon names sounding as a general response.
“Heck it was. I don’t know what stinks more, this shithole or the fatso,” exclaimed Weiss as he removed his glasses. “Why do people think I can actually see them under these things?” He often wondered why people see wearing sunglasses in dark places like some sort of badass instead of what it actually was: useless.
He walked toward the head left on the floor and picked it up. “Sorry about that Ganger. You okay?” As soon the head was on his palms it started to wobble as if were made out of jelly, only to turn into a pink blob with two dots for eyes and a small mouth.
“Ditto!” said the little transforming Pokémon with pride after an accomplished mission, not seeming to mind the kick it received in the process.
“Good boy,” Weiss said with a smile as he patted the brave blob.
Ganger then turned into a small yellow hairy bug that climbed over Weiss’ hair, causing it to become a bit puffy from the Joltik’s static. “Okay then, it’s been a great job everyone. Here’s your part…” At these words every member of the group walked towards Weiss as he opened the suitcase and divided its contents equally.
A few days prior
Unova region,
White Forest, deep into the forest.
The mercenary group, ‘Checkmate’, isn’t just your regular small battalion for hire, filled with testosterone filled men from all over the world. No, it’s a small battalion for hire, filled with testosterone filled Pokémon from all over the world, and some females, and a human.
Here everyone is treated equally, no matter how each performs. The job is never too small or too big for this group of adventurous Pokémon, and human.
So as many may imagine, the number of adventures they’ve been through would be enough to make a little series of light novels and live happily from them, but they don’t care for that. What they thrive, breathe, and fight for is simply the joy of the day as well as the promise of adventure each day brings.
Thus we reach Checkmate’s latest contract: to find Aurum the Second and make him part ways with his Pokémon. Aurum, or Ar-two as he liked to be called, wasn’t precisely hard to find. He never stopped using his father’s credit cards. “Seriously though, how come his ‘viejo’ never found him till now?” asked a thick accented voice with sarcastic annoyance within the mental link the team was sharing at the moment.
“Not now Pancha,” Shredder replied, making Pancha silent wherever she was. “What now Weiss?”
Weiss was discreetly looking through his spyglass, watching a boy walking around an empty clearing of the forest with his Pokémon close by. “I don’t know… he sure seems to be showing some real stuff here. She doesn’t seem to mind either.”
“I think they are an adorable couple,” intervened yet another voice over the mind-link, this one being whimsical in tone but with a mix of seriousness and sassiness.
“Roll, you think all couples are cute,” retorted Shredder to Roll, being obviously less demanding with her than with Pancha.
“Come on, cold ass,” Roll said once again over the link, generating a bunch of laughs from the team, and a deep blush on the Bisharp. “You must admit this is such a heartwarming scene, such tender gentleness emanating from their eyes while having such a forbidden relationship.” Weiss was sure Roll was pulling a dramatic tear off her eye as she finished those lines.
“Maybe so, Roll, but how can you define them as cute?“ replied Shredder for a second time. “It’s a skinny looking, wimpy human and an eelektross. AN EELEKTROSS! How is that cute?”
Eelektross was the dark blue creature Ar-Two was walking with, big as him and possibly thicker. She seemed to be some sort of eel with frills all over its body and its huge sucker-like mouth covering most of what seemed to be her face, yet, and as Roll pointed out, the Pokémon seemed to be enjoying the moment as much as the human, as if there were nothing else going on in the world.
“The heart knows best dear, I am sure you have made some lovely-dovely expressions when with your beloved, especially on the b-“
“Enough girls,” cut Weiss before his second in command lost it a second time in a row, “but Roll is right guys. What I see between them is very real…and I don’t think this kid is just going to let her be harmed.” He played with the damaged Pokéball resting over his chest as he said this.
“Not that we wanted to anyway,” added Roll again, making Weiss wonder how she even made it into the team again.
With a chuckle the leader continued, “We need to give them a quick briefing of what is against them. His dad sure seemed pleased with any possible outcome, so long as the relationship between the two ended. I’m sure he will look for someone else to finish the job permanently if we don’t first…” Another quick look from his spyglass and Weiss determined the course of action. “First we need to close their path, Simon you go and…”
And so they rendezvoused, or rather ambushed the couple. Ar-Two (Arthur from then on) was surprisingly happy to know Checkmate’s decision to end his and his lover’s existence. Of course not in the actual sense of the word, and was more than thankful about their help while all they asked for was a liter of his blood (Ganger needed some in case they wanted to perform a DNA test as well for his corpse). After the blood was donated and Arthur was capable of traveling, Weiss instructed them to drop his name and to never, and he meant NEVER, cross paths with those he once met.
Arthur seemed happy to do so, since he never had much contact his family nor did he had any friends to begin with, and so he and his beloved Eelektross left the forest that very day, never to been seen by human eyes ever again.
More literally than anyone could have ever imaged.
Back in the present.
Route 15, Lost Hotel
The distribution of wealth was done and each member had to be put back into their Pokéball, the part of the job Weiss hated most, even more than having to ‘end’ someone, since he never saw his team as mere Pokémon doing his bidding because of the mechanical device. He saw them as comrades in arms, viewing them as friends and above all: loving them as family. But moving in large numbers was risky in their line of work, especially when they needed a low profile. “I will let you all out once we are off the city, okay?” said Weiss to the team, to which everyone responded with a happy shake from within their capsules. “Let’s go then,” he finally said to Shredder, to which the Bisharp was more than happy to oblige.
Little did they know that far, far away from them, even farther away than any distance could measure, an obnoxious boy and his Pokèmon team had just released an ancient power long forgotten from reality and buried deep in myth.
And neither he, his team, ‘Checkmate’, nor the whole world could ever know how that simple act of curious ignorance was about to change the life and history of not only one, but two whole words in the blink of an eye.
Kalos region
Route 14
Some hours after the rendezvous.
Weiss was avoiding the swampy parts of Route 14 alongside Shredder, who seemed paranoid about the water, as she thought muddy water could ruin the finish of her smooth skin, which Weiss often thought those could be her equivalent of getting wrinkles. He wasn’t that happy with the path either, but it was the quickest way to Lumiose City, from which they would take a flight in a few hours. Weiss wondered what to do while in the city as he looked into the sky, noticing a familiar shine on it which in turn made him smile as he brought one hand to the back of his head. “One big caring family alright,” he said mostly to himself while Shredder sighed.
“Come on, is not like it will kill you.” He knew she truly believed so, though. “Besides we are returning from a successful job. You shouldn’t sulk like this.” The rest of the team had been released from their pokeballs as soon as they reached the normally deserted route so it was a good chance for her to interact with the team, if they decided to come out the forest of course.
Shredder wasn’t someone to show emotions, at least verbally, since her mere expressions were enough to know what was going through her mind ‘Roll says that’s because she is a tsundere … whatever that means’ Weiss thought.
They just left behind a big swamp when they found what seemed to be a young man accompanying a traveling girl while trying to impress her with a tale of his.
“I tell you, I totally beat the son of those famous trainers. You should have seen it, he was crying once I was done with him. Pathetic right?”
The girl gave a monotone and monosyllabic response, a barely audible “Sure”.
“With that win, I am just one step closer to becoming the national champion.” Weiss could see the cockiness all over his face.
“Ah… so…” replied the girl with continued monotony. She seemed to be from another region, Kanto apparently, and definitely wasn’t enjoying the company, but she at least seemed to keep him around in case something bad happened ‘Pokèmon love to jump out of puddles after all, and this place is all puddles’ Weiss thought.
Regardless of her disinterest, the guy continued to boast. “I tell you, that Arrow kid sure is nothing like his parents. He even said he wasn’t into fighting! Can you believe that? Such a failure of a son!”
Here Weiss seemed to react, since his line of work had to keep him informed of all important figures on the world, be them renowned or feared, and thus he knew about the Arrows: Silas, Morgan and Jacob, whom prefered to be called ‘X’. He didn’t personally know Jacob, but Weiss knew of Jacob’s disposition regarding battling.
“Wait, wait, wait!” Weiss snapped calmly “So you are saying you just beat a kid in a Pokémon battle, when he didn’t want to, knowing he wasn’t good, making him cry on top of it, and you feel proud about it?”
This seemed to annoy the cocky guy, as he turned towards Weiss with his attitude inflated by his ego. “Yeah and what about it? Don’t you see we are in the middle of something here!? Beat it loser!”
Weiss simply sighed as he noticed how the girl was still going by her own. ‘Guess you aren’t good enough to even be a meat shield, huh?’ he thought and then replied, “If feeling proud of impressing women with stories of how you beat little kids is your idea of success, then I am more than happy to be a poor loser, thank you very much,” and so continued his way as well.
However, the cocky guy didn’t take that well. “OH YEAH! Well then prove to me what you can do, big man! No one insults Rick, the greatest trainer ever!” Not waiting for an answer, Rick took a Pokéball from his belt and threw it directly at Weiss’ face, a dirty trick to get him into the fight. Quickly, Shredder used her scabbarded sword as a baseball bat, and hit the ball back. The ball slammed Rick in the face with a cracking sound. Needless to say, he screamed.
“…I won’t question why you did that,” started Weiss while ignoring Rick’s cries of pain, “but I would have thought you would be more than happy to avoid getting dirty under these circumstances, Shred.”
“This filthy man has not even an ounce of honor in him. He is not worthy to pick a fight with you”
“Oh, and you are worthy, miss clean freak?” Weiss sarcastically replied, leaving the Bisharp at a loss of words.
All of this was annoying Rick to no end. Not only had he been lectured, insulted and attacked, he was also being ignored. He, the one and only future champion of the Kalos region! “THAT’S IT! You two can go asking for your momma’s help because you guys ain’t walking back-wait did that Pokémon just talk?!”
“And he just notices it. Well I must give him some prize though, it only took you five minutes to get it,” remarked Shredder.
“Come on Shred, don’t be rude with him,” Weiss said with a condescending tone, “That hit could be enough to turn anyone into a Slowpoke.”
“Now you are being too kind with him boss,” replied Shredder.
“You think?”
Rick grimaced some more, blood coming from his nose. It was hard to tell if that was because it was broken or because he was angry. “Just to warn you,” he decided to ignore the talking Bisharp and proceeded to continue boasting, “this here is the absolute terror of all trainers I have encountered so far.” Though all he did in all his previous matches was merely pick the Pokémon with the most advantages beforehand, and he just happened to have an effective Pokémon for this annoying Bisharp. “GO HITMONCHAN!”
And once more he threw the Pokéball, this time far away from the Bisharp, and as soon the little device hit the ground it opened with a ‘pop’ and a blinding light, from which emerged a creature a bit smaller than Shredder, wearing a couple of boxing gloves on each hand and a simple purple robe over his thin but muscular body.
“CHAN!” “READY!” exclaimed the fighting-type in its Poké-language while throwing multiple jabs to the air at blinding speeds as a show of power. Of course, Shredder and Weiss could tell that it was just a bluff.
“Let’s make this more interesting,” said Rick with his cocky tone back, some napkins appearing from Arceus-knows-where now stopping the blood from his nose. “Winner gets all of the loser’s money!”
“…Why would I hand over my well earned money to the likes of you?” asked Weiss with a confused look on his face. “Is this some lazy trainer stuff?” It wasn’t like Weiss didn’t know what was going on. It’s common knowledge that some money was given to the winner as a sign of respect after a good Pokémon battle, but he simply disliked how some people abused this tradition mercilessly, running toward any unsuspecting trainer as soon eye contact was made with them. Not even children were safe from these highwaymen. “Or maybe it’s because you can’t get a job?”
Both Rick and Hitmonchan seemed very confused for a few seconds. “… I-… is not like-… I do-SHUT UP AND FIGHT YOU FAGGOT!” was the reply his poor brain could come up with, yet it was all his Pokémon needed to get fired up.
Weiss sighed as he offered a look to Shredder. “What do you say? Feel like robbing a robber?”
Shredder seemed offended by the mere question. “I normally stand above such brutish ways… but,” in a single movement she removed the sword from her belt and handed it to Weiss, who took it without question, “I can’t allow such a cur to simply insult us and walk away unscratched.”
“-if you call a broken nose unscratched,” joked the ‘trainer’ as he took a few steps away, giving them some room for the fight.
As the battle was about to start, Weiss noticed they had a spectator; the girl from before had returned and was now watching the fight. He then noticed her purple hair as well how she didn’t have the typical expectant look of someone watching a Pokémon battle, but from someone who knew how to properly fight and was already calculating who would eventually come out on top.
“You shouldn’t push your Pokémon like this,” said the purple girl with a serious tone.
“Huh? Why is that?” asked Weiss as Rick took advantage of his ‘distraction’ and started attacking.
“Hitmonchan! Use Sky Uppercut now!!” ordered Rick. Shredder had to admit his Hitmonchan was really fast, landing right before her in a couple of steps. “All ours!” exclaimed Rick while savoring victory beforehand.
However, all Hitmonchan hit was air as Shredder took a simple step to the side, letting the hit swing right next to her, and instead of countering or hitting back she brought her hands to a thinking expression. “Not bad; your footwork is flawless on its movements, but you sacrifice speed as a result,” she offered.
“Mo- Hitmonchan!? Re-really!?” replied the aggressor, his natural instinct to enhance his abilities kicking in.
“Ah, but if you stop focusing where you are going to place your feet next and more on where you are actually going, you can move more like this,” and so she showed him some of her footwork, vanishing from her place and reappearing right before Rick in less than a blink, much to the youngster’s surprise.
“A-ah!” Rick, as a result, fell to the ground “What are you doing!? Hitmonchan, Mach Punch!”
“Oh, not a bad move to choose,” said Shredder to her dismay, acknowledging Rick in the process.
“… CHA?! Mon-Monchan!! WHA?! Right-Mach Punch!!” Hitmonchan finally reacted as he flew toward Shredder.
“Good, your footwork is definitely perfect now, but…” Again all Shredder had to do was simply twirl to the side and Hitmonchan’s Mach Punch missed her entirely, yet this time he did connect something else.
“Awghua…!” exclaimed Rick as he was sent flying backwards by the attack of his own Pokémon.
“Mo-Monch… So-sorry…” Said the fighter in retaliation.
“You are not aware of your surroundings,” said Shredder, again in her instructor mode. “First you have to…” and so Shredder started to give her attacker some more tips -tips Hitmonchan was more than happy to learn, especially now that he had some time with Rick out of commission.
~A few seconds ago~
“What do you mean by that?” asked Weiss to the purple girl.
The girl looked at Weiss directly, showing him her big yet serious purple eyes. “She may be able to waltz all over this opponent” - which she was - “but if he connects one single hit, then it’s all over, she is four times weaker against him after all.”
“… and your point is?” asked back Weiss with confusion.
The purple girl seemed too confused by his comment, but continued, “One thing is trust the strength of your Pokèmon, and another is to overestimate them to the point of setting them on danger. Aren’t you worried of what may happen to her if she gets hit?” the purple girl asked with a voice as serious as her gaze.
“…” Weiss thought for a few seconds, only to grab the pendant resting over his neck, a small Pokéball resting at the end of the chain with what appeared to be some frost, a frost that despite the temperature never melted.‘And never will’ Weiss thought as he finally responded, “I think I understand what you are trying to say, it’s ‘overconfidence is a warrior’s worst enemy’ isn’t it?” The purple girl nodded. “Well, I’m afraid to tell you I learned this lesson in a very hard way.” This surprised her again.
But she wasn’t going to give up her point just yet. “But then why…?” Here she looked back at the fight which, more to her confusion, had turned into a class.
“It’s not because I train my Pokémon to the point of ‘perfection’ so I can boast around like that poor boy over there,” he pointed at the unconscious Rick which none of them seemed to care for. “I train them so we can become a stronger team.”
The purple girl took a second to digest his words. “I see your point, but I can’t understand why you’d accept a Pokémon battle that could have hurt her, even if she won.”
“Well, to be sincere, this was her choice entirely,” said Weiss with a shrug. “I haven’t been a ‘trainer’ in years you know?”
The level of confusion on the purple girl was overwhelming by now. “You are not her trainer then?”
“Nope.”
“Then what are you?”
“Her friend,” said Weiss again with such casualness it seemed to be something as simple as breathing.
Here the purple girl seemed to realize something -something more than just Weiss’ words.
Weiss decided to let the information settle in her as he looked at the unconscious human lying in the muddy water and turned to the Hitmonchan, which was still learning from Shredder. They seemed to be practicing how to deliver some punches now. “Sorry about this,” Weiss said while pointing at Rick. “Do you need help taking him to a doctor?” he offered.
The Hitmonchan then looked at Rick; he knew him well. He was cocky and full of himself, but still he treated him fairly and helped him train while choosing good battles for him to win. He respected Rick despite his flaws, yet he couldn’t deny Rick had gone a bit too far with the Arrow’s son. So with a shake of his head, the Punching Pokémon walked over to his trainer and picked him up, not a hard task thanks to his bulk, and proceeded to leave. Not before giving Shredder an honorable reverence and say in its language “Hit-hitmon, hitmon monchan, Hitmonchan!
Shredder returned the bow and replied, “I will be glad to train you some more if the situation ever allows it.” Hitmonchan then smiled widely, a dust of blush on his face as he started to trot down the road with his trainer.
“I see you have a fan,” teased Weiss.
Shredder replied, “So do you,” pointing at the purple girl with her gaze, who seemed to have a difficult time finding her next sentence.
“…About what I said…” she finally uttered, “I owe you an apology. I tried to lecture you about how you treat your Pokémon when you clearly know more than I do… I am a shame to my position… and to my father…” and so the purple girl started sniffing, small tears appearing at the sides of her serious eyes as she clenched her fist, all the while remaining as straight as possible.
This blindsided Weiss. “Ah! Come on! It’s not that big of a deal… it’s not like you are a Gym Leader or something” he say while trying to make her feel better, but the look the girl give him, as well the huge tears she was starting to pour, made Weiss realize he had just messed up, big time. “… Crap… so you…? Sorry!” was all he could say as he now bowed deeply to her.
Roughly wiping away her tears, the purple girl faced Weiss once more, the seriousness back in her eyes as she offered him her hand “Kanto Gym Leader, Poison-type specialist, Anzu! An honor to make your acquaintance, most people call me Janine though.”
Now was Weiss’ turn to be surprised “Anzu... the gym leader ‘Janine’ Anzu…? As in Koga’s daughter Anzu?!” this last part earning him a punch to the ribs from Shredder.
“Smooth…” she replied as Anzu only looked in confusion. However, the Bisharp knew how happy Weiss should be at the moment, since it’s not every day you meet the daughter of your idol.
“Yeah… my bad… here,” he properly stood up and took her hand. “Weiss, just Weiss, leader of the ‘Checkmate’ hiring team, you need it, we do it!” The brave leader blushed heavily as he noticed how his logo had slipped his mouth because of the euphoria.
“… We didn’t have the best ideas at the time,” deadpanned Shredder, adding insult to injury while also ending the awkward silence.
The trio burst into happy laughter and started to walk towards Lumiose City, sure to share some stories about each other and what-not when suddenly they all started to feel drowsy, as if something had commanded them to sleep. Despite their better judgment, one by one they fell to the moist dirt, consciousness slowly leaving their bodies as an all-powerful but gentle voice said deep within their very beings:
“Rest now my children, for when you awake a whole new world shall be your home.”
Somewhere else
A different location
A whole different world
Deep within a temple of the Griffon Empire, the screams, growls and barking of what seemed to be a whole diamond dog pack echoed all over the dust filled chambers. While most voices were incomprehensible, there were a few others which barked orders like ‘Over there’ or ‘Track her down!’ and ‘Find her!’
Meanwhile, a single pair of rose colored eyes observed the chaotic pack from a safe distance, thanking Celestia for her coat and mane being so good for hiding within temples.
She took a moment to rest from her current situation and listed off her day: First she tracked down the stolen artifact to this temple and got into it with no problem. “Entering is always easy, going out though…” Then she found a whole bunch of dogs inside the ruins, looking for who knew what “-ain’t that a change.” Her experience told her it was nothing good, so she decided to just take the artifact and fly home before anything could happened. However, she was found out as soon she put her hooves on the relic, not because of clumsiness or bright guards “-that would be quite a change,” but because of the freaking tremor that suddenly happened, she lost her balance and fell right before the damn dogs. Luckily, she managed to escape with the item in her teeth, but the problem was that she had ran deeper into the ruins instead the other way around.
“So let’s see,” the yellow mare started, “completely outnumbered, partially lost, no hopes of been rescued and with every dog sniffing after me… I would say I’ve had a very good day so far, not a single bladed trap, piercing darts or damn feline in sight.”
With a proud thud, Daring Do huffed her chest, ready to deal with anything this temple would throw at her while placing the item under her hat and stating “another day, another dung-hoa!” As she was about to start sneaking away once more, she tripped over a very hard something laying on the ground “son of a mule…!” exclaimed Do as quietly as the pain would allow her, then turned to see what made her trip so painfully: a statue.
It was big, definitely taller than her if standing, but also thin, barely as thick as she was. But the stranger part was that she could recognize neither the culture nor the creature it was supposed to represent.
“Weird… since when did the ancient griffins make statues out of metal…?” asked the adventurer while poking the side of the statute, only for it to suddenly raise an arm “…” a heavily armored arm “…” a heavily armored, mobile arm “...” A heavily armored, mobile and bladed arm.
“Okay, that’s definitely new!
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Nice beginning... I got a bit confused when you pulled out the Ganger name as I thought it was a misspelling for Gengar and there was not trace of one... oh well.
Another wonderful story to add to the series. I am very pleased.
On a side note, I thought the trainer who 'beat' X was named Rick. Nick is the happy-go-lucky and adventurous main character of "The City is Always Bustling on the Other Side" by Smashing Skunk. Of course, its not really a big deal, since Nick is such a common name that likely nobody is gonna care too much.
Also, reading it again, the number of small grammar errors is...rather high. You might want to get a proof reader for this.
4584287 Thanks you for making notice both, I have fixed the name and as many errors as I could, but I will admit I do need a proof reader too.
4584801
Yeeeaaahhh... You could really use a proof reader. I volunteer.
Well, time to start another story of this great series.
Wow, that was a pretty good first chapter. Nice to see that jerkass trainer getting some comeuppance. He obviously hasn't heard that the nail that stands up is the one that gets hammered down.
Awwww, i was hoping to get conclusion from the introduction. Oh well, i now juggle this, New Conflict, New Mind, and im tired from finishing New Ranger too.
Well, there where significantly less typos this go around.