- Artoria (Kirlia)
- Jeanne (Flaaffy)
- Durvasa (Mankey)
- Bearnaise(Egg)
- Magellan (Chikorita)
Entree 5.3
Aaron Fulan
Rustboro City
“Thank you for the battle, Aaron. You showed several tactics that I think will be relevant for my classes,” Roxanne said, smiling. She was as prim and proper as ever, but the way she moved her head made the little balls her hair had been styled into jiggle. It was cute, though I didn’t dare tell her that.
I took the offered Stone Badge. “Thank you, I’m very proud of my pokemon.”
We made our way to the bleachers, where the audience offered their polite congratulations. Lisia looked suitably impressed and Chaz did his best to act like this was just his average Tuesday while simultaneously taking social cues from his crush.
We lingered at the gym for several minutes. Being an educator herself, Roxanne was very interested to hear about Durvasa’s forays into literacy and even offered some teaching aids from her personal collection. I was happy to listen as she went on about different teaching styles and reward matrices that best suited more active personalities like Durvasa’s.
That was my answer for how I’d approach teaching Durvasa. He seemed to share a lot of similarities with children with ADHD, at least in part. He certainly didn’t lack focus or curiosity, but the sheer amount of energy he had as a mankey meant I’d had to pause certain lessons so he could work it off before his brain decided it could focus again. I had some experience teaching children like that in combat, but Roxanne’s expertise was very welcome.
Just as I was really starting to pick her brains on the matter, a young man in his twenties barged in, sweat soaked through his shirt and out of breath. Judging by the logo on his shirt, he was from the attached trainer school, not the gym.
“Leader Roxanne! Leader Roxanne!” he shouted, panting for gulps of air. “We have a problem!”
Roxanne’s polite smile was wiped completely from her face, replaced by strict, unyielding stone. “Jim! Breathe! Explain the situation calmly.”
“I’m sorry, but there’s been an attack. Several of the fossil pokemon were stolen from the school.”
“Fossil po–They were on loan from Devon for the day. How did–No, it doesn’t matter,” she muttered, mind working a mile a minute. She turned to us with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Aaron, I really did enjoy our conversation, but it seems like we’re going to have to cut this short.”
“Completely understandable,” I told her. “Please, go make sure your students are safe. Have the police been called?”
“They have,” Jim answered. “We’re still taking stock of the situation.”
“I’m a sponsored trainer for Mossdeep Gym. I can’t say I’m experienced in law enforcement, but if there is anything I can do, you have my number, Leader Roxanne.”
“That likely won’t be necessary,” she said. “Thank you, but we’ll handle things from here.”
That was it, then. There wasn’t much else for us to do at the gym, so I led Lisa and Chaz outside. I thought about what Jim had said. In the games, the fossils retrieved from the desert could be revived by scientists at Devon Corp. The technology was expensive, but major research labs like Devon and Cinnabar had access to it.
The only downside to revived fossils was that, like mules, they could not breed. The discovery of Grandpa Canyon and the still-living population of ancient pokemon was vital because it was a self-sustaining population.
I wasn’t a researcher, but it must have been nice, having a lab so close to the school. Then again, the trainer school I’d attended in Mossdeep had a very hands-on ecological program thanks to its proximity to the sea and Shoal Cave. Not to mention, the Mossdeep Space Center held frequent demonstrations for the curious-minded. I wondered what else was different from city to city.
X
Roxanne Tsutsuji
The Rustboro Trainer Academy was one of the finest institutions of its kind, thanks in no small part to the generous donation of the Stone family. It even had several large pokemon enclosures custom-made to represent various ecosystems so students could observe pokemon in their natural habitats. Never mind other trainer schools around the city, it wasn’t uncommon for even colleges and research institutes to request the use of our facilities.
A few days prior, Devon Corp loaned the school several omanyte, kabuto, anorith, and lileep from their prehistoric research lab. The students were to observe them before writing papers comparing ancient and modern aquatic ecosystems. It was supposed to be an enriching experience that I’d been delighted to support.
And then, someone had decided it would be a good idea to trash my school and steal the rare pokemon from the semi-aquatic enclosure. They must have figured that a school would have lesser security measures than Devon’s labs.
That was true, but knowing that only told me that they’d thought their actions through carefully. Worst of all, they almost certainly had help from someone inside Devon or the school itself.
I suppressed my agitation in favor of a calm facade. I had to seem in control, now more than ever. As a gym leader, my city counted on me. As a relatively new gym leader, it was moments like these that would make or break my position here. Not to mention, I’d been one of the primary advocates in favor of this program. Ensuring its smooth operation was my responsibility.
“Once again, headmaster,” I said, with a patience I did not truly feel.
“Four of our students are missing,” he told me. He handed over an email, no doubt sent from a disposable account. “We also received this from their kidnappers.”
I browsed it quickly. It was not a ransom note. Instead, it stated that the thieves had scattered and taken the children to different locations throughout the city. If we wanted them back unharmed, we would have to let them escape with the pokemon.
I clicked my tongue in frustration. Their plan was obvious: They wanted to divide my resources. I could order the police to track down the fossil pokemon, but my priority had to be the students. There would be a manhunt for their safety, and by the time we’d found all the children, the thieves would be long gone.
“We can track the email. We have porygon on the force,” one of the officers said.
I shook my head in the negative. “Try, but don’t expect much. They’ll be expecting that and there isn’t much even a porygon can do when the culprit intends to abandon the IP address anyway.”
“What’s the plan, then? We have officers keeping an eye out for the children.”
“Any descriptions of the thieves? Something on camera?”
“Team Aqua,” the headmaster said gravely. He pulled up one of the security footage for us. Sure enough, they were men and women in signature, blue and white, pirate-themed outfits. “Either that, or they really want us to believe it’s them.”
“The police are to continue to look for the missing children,” I said, mind racing. “Do not cause a panic. My gym trainers will assist you. If they’re really Aqua, they’ll attempt to escape by boat. I’ll head to the old dockyard and begin looking for their leader.”
“Yes, ma’am. The eggheads at Devon are tracking the pokeballs and they say they’re somewhere in the docks as well. Take some of ours with you too, ma’am,” the officer said. “Maybe, if we can capture their leader, we can force the location of the children out of them.”
“No. Too strong a response and I’m afraid they’ll do something desperate. They obviously intended for the police to be distracted; let’s let them think so. Search the city in a constricting pattern. Slowly cut off all other avenues of escape but leave the docks. Have we tried a psychic screening for the children?”
“We don’t have many skilled psychics, and those that are skilled enough are having trouble anyway. There are simply too many people in the city for anything specific. They may also have dark or ghost type scramblers on hand.”
That was unfortunate, but not unexpected. Psychic powers were so easily abused that countermeasures had been established centuries ago during the Fragmentation Era. Nowadays, it was only the particularly stupid and unprepared who were so easily dealt with.
I suspected that a powerful enough psychic who could overwhelm their dark types would have trouble distinguishing four children in a metropolis as large as Rustboro anyway. Although… Didn’t I just spend my morning with an expert psychic? If Leader Fulan’s son wasn’t qualified to advise on the subject, who was?
I doubted he could teach psychics to ignore dark types or locate individuals in a giant city in just a few minutes, but information gathering was their speciality.
I’d gotten his number because his attempts to teach his mankey to read were delightful to hear about, but right now, he was a potentially vital resource. I opened my pokenav and dialed his number.
X
Dashel Hart
I slammed my fist against the deck. I glowered at the twenty-six dumbasses on my crew. “How the fuck did you idiots screw this up?”
“I-It wasn’t our fault, captain,” one of them, Kate, simpered. She was the least useless of the bunch, not that that was saying much. “These brats thought they’d play hero and–”
“And you decided that you’d take them along for the ride, did ya?” Beside me, Crusher, my crawdaunt, let off a frothing foam and sharpened his claws.
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“We couldn’t leave them; they would have gotten the teachers on us, captain.”
“Do you have any idea how much more annoying the cops get when we involve children?”
“W-We could ransom them.”
“No, we fucking can't! Do you want an Elite on your ass? This is how you get an Elite to leave their ivory tower!”
This was supposed to be simple. The admiral was a big man, the kind with real power in the world. His was a fleet that hadn’t been seen since the Fragmentation Era. He had contacts everywhere, people who saw things his way, the Aqua way. One of those contacts was an egghead in Devon.
I’d heard from Commodore Matt that Admiral Archie had a thing for super-ancient pokemon. No one knew exactly what he was looking for, but what the boss wanted, the boss got. Even if these fossils weren’t exactly what he was looking for, they were worth a pretty penny anyway. So if that meant I had my crew scare the piss out of a few teacher types, then so be it.
We had the pokemon. They had to be broken out of their balls and captured in new ones, Devon’s tech always had trackers, but once we were done with that, we could set sail.
Except, these fuckwits decided to complicate things. Kids always complicated things.
“Are the bombs set?” I growled. They’d better be. We really needed the distraction right now.
“Y-Yes, captain!” Nate, the newest idiot on my crew, barked back. Dumbass, but at least he had a pair of lungs on him.
“Good. Set them off. We need the police off our backs.” I picked out eight of my guys, the dumb, disposable kind. “You eight, take the kids and scatter. Drop them off somewhere quiet and break their pokenavs. Then, circle around the city and meet the ship up north in two days.”
“Uh, where’s that?”
“I don’t fucking know yet! You fuckwits had to involve kids so we need to lay low! Now get the hell out of my sight!”
I had one of my underlings send off an email to the school. The device was then thrown into the sea. They could track it however they wanted.
Hopefully, those four could divide the cops some more. The bombs weren’t anything big, mostly meant to get under Devon’s craw and start a small scare. Together with the missing kids, they should buy us plenty of time.
If my fuckwit crewmates joined back up with the ship, great. If not, that was fine, too. There could have been far worse losses.
X
Aaron Fulan
I hadn’t expected to hear from Roxanne so soon. Judging by the concerned look on her face, it wasn’t a social call.
“Aaron, is there a way to psychically track individuals inside Rustboro’s city limits?” she began without even a greeting. That told me how urgent this was.
“No, not unless you're my mom, or another master-level psychic. And even mom would need some familiarity with the subjects she’s looking for,” I told her. As powerful as she was, not even mom could just pick a specific person from a city of millions. I was just special. “What's going on?”
“Four of my students were kidnapped along with the fossil pokemon by a Team Aqua cell.”
Lisia and Chaz gasped behind me. This kind of thing just wasn’t done, not even by eco-terrorists like Aqua. “Are we sure they’re not just missing?”
“We have a note from them, and video evidence.”
“Oh, shit. Well, someone seriously screwed the pooch there. This can’t have been on purpose.”
“How do you accidentally kidnap four children?”
“I don’t know, but I was assuming they weren’t that stupid.”
“You give them far too much credit, Aaron,” Roxanne said dryly. “You have three badges. As of this moment, I am deputizing you to assist in the search for the children. The police will be helping as well, but there were several bombs detonated strategically to distract and divide their forces.”
“I understand. I’ll see what I can do to help. Can you send me pictures of the missing kids?”
“I’ll have one of the other teachers do it. I’m headed for the docks. That’s where their captain is likely hidden.”
“Okay, good luck.”
The call cut out, leaving my two friends fidgeting with nervous tension. I didn’t blame them. I grew up on stories of great battles my ancestors had participated in. Given what I knew of this world, I’d always listened to those stories with the grim understanding that I might one day have to add to the family collection.
Lisia was a Mikuri. Well, a Lutia officially, but a Mikuri in every way that mattered. She likely heard some of those old war stories, too. That said, I doubted she committed them to memory in the same way. The less said about Chaz, the better.
“You two head back,” I told them. We were seated at a nearby cafe but it looked like I’d be leaving before my food arrived.
“What? No,” Lisia said, grabbing my sleeve. “We can help, too!”
“Are you sure? You’re not obligated to get involved here.”
“I don’t need a fancy badge to tell me to do the right thing,” Chaz said, standing. “We just need to keep an eye out for some kids, right?”
“Fine. I have an idea. You have a venonat, right?”
“Yes? What do you want with Veronique?”
“Her eyes and antennae can be used as radars. Has she ever used them that way?”
“No, but I’m sure she can. Her range might be limited though.”
“That’s fine, Ali and Grace can fly her around,” Lisia said. “Has someone sent you the kids’ faces?”
I slid over my pokenav. “Yes. We’ll start scouting near the dock area and slowly head inward. Our goal will be to report the locations of the children to the police. Once they’re secured, Roxanne won’t have to worry about a potential hostage situation.”
“Okay, sounds like a plan.”
“While you two do that, Artoria and I will look for people on the ground.”
“Wait, isn’t it better to stick together?”
“You have my number. Call me if you find them. Otherwise, it’s better to spread out and cover more ground,” I told them. I opened my map and began to jog towards the waterfront. “Artoria and I are empaths, remember? We might not be able to single out specific targets, but looking for the biggest source of misery in the docks should be pretty effective.”
“Okay, be careful.”
“I’ll be fine. It’s you two I’m worried about.
X
‘Was leaving them alone the right decision, my lord?’ Artoria asked from atop my shoulder. ‘They are not fighters.’
‘That’s why I left,’ I said truthfully. ‘If they really need it, you’ll be able to teleport to them. But if we find the kids before they do–’
‘Then that spares them a battle they are unprepared for. I understand.’
‘Yup. Now, let’s go find the most miserable sap in the city.”
It was tedious work, not that I could complain when the stakes were so high.
Rustboro City’s dockyards were most definitely the “wrong side of the tracks.” It was still far better than the shittier parts of New York, LA, or any other city I’d been to in my past life. There were no crowds of homeless, no overfilled trash bins that hadn’t been picked up for weeks, and no gang tags scrawled amidst more innocent graffiti on the walls.
It was nice. Maybe because every person could potentially carry a death machine in their pocket, people tended to be more civil. At the very least, social welfare programs that were often full of corruption or shoddily distributed in my past life were more reliable. After all, no government wanted a group of disenfranchised, desperate people with access to lethal pokemon and the Hoenn League was no different.
That wasn’t to say the relative poverty wasn’t immediately noticeable however. Graffiti littered the walls, often pictures of what I assumed were the owners’ pokemon. Paper adverts were taped all over many walls and light poles. They advertised everything from wafts of gloom perfume to a more ambiguous “fun evening.”
Ignore all of that and I soon found the obvious: People were people. Their emotions tended to be mild, neither filled with unbridled joy nor crushing despair. Most people around here were just trying to get through their day and the most common flash of aura was that of ambivalence.
Even so, the sheer size of the city made finding the children a challenge. The first person I’d found who showed genuine fear was a man who stared at his laptop in a coffee shop, head in his hands. From his whispered mutterings, I gathered that he’d just been fired from his job. He feared having to go home and tell his wife.
Now that Artoria and I had opened ourselves to the emotions of this city, we found no end to such people. Sure, most people weren’t dying, or in imminent danger of any kind of physical harm, but life had plenty of struggles regardless.
One man’s car had broken down on the side of the road. A woman clung to her boyfriend, begging him not to leave her. Any such disruption to their daily lives could inspire strong spikes of emotion, and each such person was a distraction from Team Aqua.
Slowly, Artoria and I made our way down into the docks proper.
From what I could remember from my history lessons, Rustboro’s dock used to be one of the more important ports in Hoenn. Sure, it could never compare to Sootopolis or Lilycove, but on the western side of our expansive region, it was king.
Then, the Slateport Urban Development Project was announced thirty-one years ago. It didn’t happen right away, but as Slateport’s harbors expanded and were modernized with better shipyards, Rustboro’s importance as a trading hub waned. The port was still used of course, no metropolis its size could have one and not use it, but it was largely reserved for bulky cargo ships, not the picturesque piers filled with luxury liners found on postcards.
Most of the docks were occupied with warehouses. Those by the waterfront were truly massive and covered on three sides, with the fourth leading directly out into the sea. That way, smaller cargo boats could unload directly into supply depots.
We were about to check out a few of them when I received a call from Lisia.
“Aaron, I think we found them,” Lisia said, panting. Her face was flushed red and sweat matted her turquoise hair to her face. “Veronique saw a man who looked like he might be an Aqua grunt heading into an old parking garage.”
“Fuck, Artoria and I must have missed them. We’re pretty far into the docks now. Where? Have you called the cops?” I immediately began to run back into the city. Roxanne was probably somewhere around the docks. She had to have her main team with her; she was the last person who needed my help.
“We have. Leader Roxanne has been informed as well. The police are scattered right now. The kids were separated so they have to be everywhere at once. There was also something about a bomb detonated near Devon.”
“How the fuck–Never mind. Send me the address. Whatever you do, don’t go in by yourselves.”
“We’re not. We’re just watching for now. We’ll let you know if they change locations.”
“Thank you, Lisia. I’ll be right there.”
Author’s Note
As usual, I’m just smashing English and Japanese names together to get their full names. “Tsutsuji” is Roxanne’s name in Japanese versions.
I’ve decided to flesh out Archie and Maxie, and that means giving some more hierarchy to their teams. Team Aqua isn’t just pirate cosplayers now; they’re a proper fleet, which makes Archie an “admiral” by their reckoning.
Shelly, Matt, and Amber (manga admin) each command several cells. Each cell is led by a captain, called that because they usually do have their own ships. Between admiral and captain, the executives likewise use naval ranks and are called commodores.
I’ll do something similar for Team Magma as well.
So far, Team Aqua’s plan was thus:
- Captain Dashel hears that Archie is looking for super-ancient pokemon and thinks fossil pokemon count. He hears that these pokemon will be poorly guarded during an educational program and orders his mooks to steal them.
- His mooks encounter four children during their operation. Panicking but unwilling to kill kids, they kidnap the children.
- Dashel doesn’t want the kind of heat that a “child kidnapper” label gets you so he plans to use them as distractions and hostages while he makes his getaway. At the same time, he has to re-ball the fossil pokemon because Devon’s tech has trackers. If he leaves the city, he’d be taking the rangers directly to Aqua’s base. This takes time if he wants to beat the fossil pokemon without harming them.
- Four kids are spread out across the city alongside a few mooks. Bombs go off near Devon. This scatters the cops, who are trying to act without causing a panic.
Pokemon Fact: Victini likes macarons.
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