A New World, a New Way: Against the Book

by Speven Dillberg

The Heat of Battle

The Heat of Battle

Scorch walked without looking where he was going. He didn’t need to, his nose all he needed to tell him where to walk.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Jenny asked.

“I want to know why there’s a Steel-type around here,” he answered.

“It’s a Steel-type?” Jenny asked as they walked down the road. “Are you sure?”

“The only other thing that could smell like this would be a Trubbish or a Garbodor,” the male Growlithe explained. “But they have a whole bunch of other smells clinging to them, not just the one. Trust me, you’d know if it was one of them,” he finished ominously.

“So, what do you think it is?” Jenny asked, ignoring some of the stares they were getting. Being bright orange and cute was starting to become a problem, as more than a few of the Ponyta children had to be restrained by the adults. She’d experienced being petted by Remedy, and found that hooves did not make for good petting equipment.

“No idea,” Scorch admitted sheepishly. “Could be a Klink, could be a Scizor, or it could be a - ”

Scorch had to cut himself off when a stampede of the Ponytas and a few smaller Pokemon came towards them. He quickly pulled Jenny close to a building. “What’s going on!?” she yelled over the thunder of hooves and panicked screaming.

“I think we found our Steel-type!” Scorch yelled back, craning his neck to try and see over the stampede.

The ground began to shake as their quarry got closer. “I told you to stop poking me! I told you to leave me alone! But no, you just had to keep doing it! I hope you’re happy!” they heard someone shout to the fleeing Ponytas.

“That sounds bad…”

“Oh no… If that’s what I think it is...”

A great monster, easily three times as tall as them, and magnitudes larger, rounded the corner. It had a black body covered in thick steel plating, and it glared around the area. “Hmph. Bunch of cowards,” it said, stomping its way forwards.

“That’s an Aggron,” Scorch muttered.

Jenny was just glad that she didn’t need to use the bathroom before. She certainly wouldn’t need to now, if that had been the case. She’d seen Aggrons before, but that had been when she was close to them in height, and they had always been with a trainer. But now that she was a lot smaller than she was used to being, the normally-intimidating Aggron was much scarier to be around. “Maybe it won’t notice us?” she squeaked.

The Aggron’s head swivelled towards them with alarming speed. “He did…” Scorch muttered fearfully.

“What are you two doing over there?” the Aggron asked loudly.

“What do we do?” Jenny hissed.

“Stop hiding and get out here, maybe?” They both turned to the Aggron, who was looking at them curiously. “If you’re trying to not be seen, you’re failing.”

“Y-you’re not mad at us?” Scorch asked timidly.

“Why would I be?” the Aggron asked back loudly. “You weren’t poking me when I kept saying not to. Dumb Ponytas...” he muttered angrily, looking around in case any of them didn’t get the message before.

Jenny looked up at the Iron Armor Pokemon, her fear starting to fade. Now that she knew that its - his - anger wasn’t directed at her, she could calm down a little. “Um. Why are you in a city?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, looking around with a frown. “I just woke up in a scrapyard yesterday. When I decided to make the most of it and start eating, one of those Ponytas came up and started yelling at me.” The Aggron shrugged. “I didn’t know it was his, so I left. When I woke up this morning, one of them was poking me with a spear. So I ate it.”

“The Ponyta?”

“No, the spear. It tasted kinda spicy,” he added. “After that, I rolled back over. Then there were TWENTY of them!” he shouted. “I had to eat six more spears and five helmets before they got the message!” He punctuated his point with a powerful stomp that drove his foot close to a ten inches through the cobblestone. “But no! More of them came back! I had to send one through a wall to get them to leave me alone, then chase off the ones that were watching!”

“So that’s why you were stomping down the road…” Scorch muttered. “And why you smelled like a scrapyard. I wasn’t smelling you, I was smelling your breath.” His laughter died in his throat when he noticed the terrifying glare he was getting from the Aggron.

“I don’t make a habit of smacking around Growlithes…” He raised a hand threateningly. “But you’re making it tempting to start.”

“Please forgive him,” Jenny said, quickly getting between the two. “He doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut.”

The Aggron kept glaring at Scorch. “Make sure your brother learns some manners,” he growled.

“He’s not my brother,” Jenny replied, just glad that he didn’t think they were mates.

“Your mate, then.” Or not.

“He’s not my mate, either,” she said flatly. “We’re… um, it’s kinda complicated.”

“She used to be a human, I used to be her partner, so that sort of makes her my master.” Scorch cocked his head to the side. “Trainer? Mistress? Whatever.”

“She used to be human?” The Aggron turned to look at Jenny before snorting. “Right. And I used to be a Skarmory.”

“It’s true. I was a police officer, and now… I’m a police Growlithe,” Jenny muttered. “It’s like whoever decided to change me into a Growlithe didn’t even try to be creative,” she added angrily.

“Huh. I don’t know if you’re telling the truth or not,” the Aggron said slowly, “but I guess I’ll take your word for it.” He plopped himself down onto his hindquarters, making the ground quake. “Can’t see what you’d gain from lying to me,” he added with a shrug.

“So you have no idea how you got here either?” Scorch asked.

“Nope,” the Aggron said, shrugging. “Like I said, woke up in a scrapyard. A few other Pokemon I’ve ran into have no idea what happened either. One of them said something about Arceus…” He made a snorting noise. “Nothing against Arceus, but I don’t think he’d be able to pull this off.”

“Wait, Arceus?” Jenny asked. “Arceus is real?”

“Very real. But I think his power has been exaggerated all the time,” the Aggron replied. “Something else brought us here, I’m sure.”

“Do you have anywhere to go?” Scorch asked.

“I was gonna find a mountain and carve out a cave,” Aggron replied carefully. “Why?” he asked suspiciously.

“Well… I was thinking…”

“Scorch, are you gonna invite him to where we’re staying? Really?”

“Why not?” he asked back. “I don’t think it’d hurt, and I bet Ms Nightingale wouldn’t mind.”

“I don’t think she’d appreciate us bringing a six-foot tall, metal-eating monster that can smash walls without trying.” Jenny nervously glanced at Aggron. “Um, no offense?”

Aggron snorted. “If the worst you can do is call me ‘monster’, we’re not going to have many problems. And if I were to go with you, what would be in it for me?”

“A warm place to stay?” Jenny offered.

“I bet Remedy would love to have her own metal dinosaur,” Scorch chuckled.

“What? Who?” The Aggron looked between the two, confusion written on his face.

“Oh, she’s the daughter of the Ponyta that took us in,” Jenny explained.

“She keeps giving us snacks,” Scorch interjected.

“She treats us like… well, pets, but I think that’s just because she doesn’t know any better,” Jenny said, shooting a quick glare at the other Growlithe. “But, we get fed, somewhere warm to sleep, and someone who likes hugging us. It’s nice,” she admitted quietly.

Aggron sat there, pondering. “I suppose… I can follow you. I’m not saying,” he said loudly, “that I’ll stay with you. But, I’ll take a look. If… what did you say her name was again?” he asked.

“Nightingale.”

“If this Nightingale is as nice as you say, I might stick around for a while,” Aggron said with a small shrug. “‘Sides, you two pups look like you need someone around to keep ya safe, no offense, but you’re kind of tiny.”

Jenny started growling at that. “Hey, could’ve been worse,” Scorch pointed out. “You could be a Dedenne. Or a Joltik.”

“I just wish I was a bit bigger!” Jenny shouted. “Hell, Flareons are bigger than us, and they have no use other than being walking pillows!”

Aggron looked down at her dryly. “Then find a Fire Stone and evolve. Stop complaining about your size when you’re a puppy,” he told her blandly. “Or at the very least, don’t do it so obnoxiously, pup.”

Jenny was suddenly aware that she was angering someone that could throw her through a brick wall with ease. “Sorry. Just… still adjusting to this.”

“Just try not to annoy everyone with your whinging,” Aggron said, getting to his feet. “Lead the way,” he commanded Scorch.

“I’m still not sure this is a good idea…” Jenny muttered as she brought up the rear of their strange little parade.

“Oh calm down, what’s the worst that can happen?” Scorch asked obliviously.

The trio progressed down the empty road. “Where is everyone?”

“No idea…” Scorch muttered as he looked around.

“Probably hiding from Aggron,” Jenny pointed out. “He is pretty scary-looking.”

“Yeah,” Aggron admitted proudly. “I didn’t get this big by being a complete pushover.” He started swinging his tail around to prove his point, making Jenny duck under it.

“Hey, watch it!”

“What?” he asked, turning around suddenly. It all happened too fast, and Scorch was looking in the wrong direction, leaving him with no chance to dodge.

The steel tail whipped around and slammed into Scorch’s leg, sending him spinning as a crack split the air. Jenny could only watch in horror as her partner slammed head-first into the wall of a house. “Scorch!” she screamed.

“Oh no,” Aggron said, turning around much slower. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to - ”

“I don’t care if you’re sorry, just - just help me do something!” Jenny shouted back, on the verge of hysteria.

“Okay, just calm down.” Aggron bent down to help Scorch back to his feet, but something came rocketing out from an alley, slamming into the side of his head.

“What the - ” Jenny turned to see a Blaziken land on its feet gracefully before entering a fighting stance.

“Leave the Growlithes alone,” it said menacingly.

“What do you mean, leave them alone?” Aggron asked back angrily.

“Exactly what I said. Now step away, or I will have to hurt you.”

“You’re welcome to try!” Aggron challenged, slamming his fists together in a show of intimidation.

“Very well, then.”

Jenny shut out the sounds of the battle as she rushed to Scorch’s side. “You’re really beautiful,” he slurred.

“Be quiet,” she muttered, looking over his injuries. Aggron had done a fair bit of damage, despite the blow being a complete accident. Still, the bleeding head wound wasn’t that bad, she knew that they always looked worse than they actually were.

“No… no like totally... beautiful,” he slurred again.

That’s just the concussion talking, Jenny told herself, not knowing if the blow had been that serious. “I’m pretty sure your leg isn’t meant to bend like that,” she said, pointing at one of his forelegs.

“The leg doesn’t matter,” Scorch managed to get out.

“Do you have somewhere you can take him?” Jenny looked up and found herself face to face with a Delphox. It was clearly female, given its voice, and it had a bandanna wrapped around its head for some reason. Jenny just nodded dumbly. “Okay,” the Delphox said, quickly putting Scorch on Jenny’s back. “Take him and get out of here. Blaziken and I will take care of the Aggron,” she said confidently.

The Blaziken let out a pained scream as he was thrown into a building, cracking the wall. “That’s the best you’ve got!?” Aggron shouted. “I expected a fight!”

“We’ll take care of it,” the Delphox repeated, sounding nowhere near as confident the second time. “Just go.”

---

Jenny stumbled down the road, struggling under Scorch’s weight. She wasn’t entirely sure how long she’s been carrying him for, only that the smell of his blood was making her nauseated. Still, she pressed on. Scorch was relying on her to get him medical attention, and Nightingale would be able to provide it.

“Come on Scorch, nearly there,” she said to the unconscious Growlithe. He didn’t respond, instead just drooling a little onto her leg. “Just hold on…” she muttered desperately.

“Mummy! The puppies are back!” Jenny looked up and saw Remedy smiling at them. Then the smile fell away. “MUMMY! One of them’s hurt!”

Jenny’s legs gave out under her, the strain too much. She was dimly aware of the sounds of hooves and someone talking, and then there was darkness.

Comments

[Sothe17]

YAY MAY AND BLAZIKEN!

[Fancy Fox]

That arrgon isn't going to be happy to know they abandoned him...
As always good chapter! I hope for more

[markoatonc]

4998664
And he knows name of that vet. It is going to end badly.