Aaron’s Pokemon

  - Artoria (Kirlia)

  - Jeanne (Flaaffy)

  - Durvasa (Mankey)

  - Shirred (Egg)

  - Magellan (Chikorita)

  Entree 5.4

  Roxanne Tsutsuji

  Rustboro City

  Team Aqua’s ship was inside a large, three-sided warehouse that fed directly into the ocean. The warehouse was enormous, meant to allow dozens of tons of cargo to be moved directly from ship to storage. I only learned where it was thanks to Sunshine, my solrock’s, detection capabilities. He could not tell me much, only that there were many minds inside.

  I’d pulled out all the stops for this. My six strongest teammates were with me, each well-beyond the level of the average conference participant. This was not a formal challenge; there was no need to obey the rules here.

  Truthfully, I hated this, all of it. My passion was teaching, not battles. The chaos of the battlefield, my responsibilities as law enforcement, these were all things I tolerated, not embraced wholeheartedly.

  I knew I’d never be the strongest, nor did I have any such ambitions. If I was being honest, just the position as the “least” of all gym leaders was as high as I could see myself climbing in the League. I simply lacked the talent for battle that so many of my peers had. Even the defensive style that I favored was something I’d developed out of necessity, not passion.

  I wasn’t good at thinking on my feet and making snap decisions. I was confident in my ability to analyze and pick apart a strategy, but I was the kind of person who needed time to get there. I needed to take it all in, account for the numerous variables on the field, and only then would I ever feel comfortable in taking action.

  At times like these, I wished I could be more proactive. I envied Elite Sydney and Leader Wattson. Their pokemon were swift and could incapacitate threats with minimal fuss. My team simply wasn’t suited for such an approach; few rock types were.

  I did have a lycanroc, but I’d actually gotten scammed. The species was one of the most domesticated pokemon in their native Alola, and while that made many of them great with small children, they also lost some of their combative instincts.

  The breeder I’d purchased her from, back when she was a rockruff, promised me that his pups were battlers. She was not. She was fluffy, adorable, and loved my students, more of a “protector of the herd” than a true battler.

  She also simply lacked the force of will to participate in anything but my lesser gym battles. I’d hoped she could be the speediest member of my main team, but that was not to be. By the time she’d matured and taken to training in earnest, she’d become such an integral part of my teaching curriculum that I couldn’t be bothered to take issue with the breeder.

  I shook my head to clear my thoughts. That was neither here nor there. A speedster would have been delightful, but there was no use wishing for what I didn’t have. As always, I’d simply have to make do.

  “Ferrus, tear the roof off the warehouse and Bulldoze the walls flat,” I addressed my aggron. I’d worry about compensating the owner of the building later, after they were thoroughly investigated for potentially housing terrorists.

  Sunshine hovered behind me, cloaking me in Reflect and Light Screen. Bruce and Chief, my golem and armaldo, flanked me on either side as Lily, my cradily, dug in her roots right in front of me. A little ways away, Rose the probopass, my most cherished friend and starter, took up her position, ready to act as long-range support. They were like thick castle walls; I knew any attempt to target me directly would fail miserably.

  At my signal, Ferrus let loose a large Hyper Beam that burned through the warehouse in its entirety. I heard shouts of surprise and pain as some of the supporting beams collapsed.

  There was a small risk of hitting something unintentionally, but I couldn’t afford to go in there. My team would end up destroying the warehouse with their bulk anyway; better that we get it out of the way and remove a potentially unpredictable variable in the form of falling debris.

  The shouting was only muted by the deafening sound of grinding stone and crashing walls. Sunshine knew what I needed and telekinetically bored a hole through the smoke, giving me vision of my opponents.

  There were many. I was no ship enthusiast, but the one docked in the middle of the warehouse was easily large enough to fit a few dozen men. I immediately recalculated their threat rating. Individually, I had no reason to fear them, but their sheer numbers introduced a chaotic element to this battle that I disdained.

  “What the fuck are you shits doing out here?!” a man shouted as he slammed open the captain’s cabin.

  He had on a long overcoat that reached down to his knees, a tattered pair of jeans, and a navy bandana with Team Aqua’s insignia embossed onto it. He wore nothing beneath his coat, showing off a deep tan and admittedly impressive muscles.

  His chest was likewise adorned with the stylized “A” of Team Aqua. On his neck was a shrunken dive ball, which may or may not be a functioning pokeball.

  I’d considered the possibility of this being a false flag operation before, but this settled most of my doubts. Uniforms could be acquired or copied, but tattoos were significantly more damning in that regard. Only the fanatically stupid tended to sport those.

  “I am Roxanne Tsutsuji, Gym Leader of Rustboro City. You are under arrest for pokemon trafficking, domestic terrorism, and kidnapping children. You are entitled to the due protections of the legal process,” I recited by rote, trusting that Sunshine would carry my voice to them. “Anything you say and do may be used against you. Any attempt to destroy or tamper with evidence may result in the issuance of a warrant for psycho-forensic investigation.”

  Strictly speaking, I didn't need to recite their rights or warn them before battle, such things were typically at the moment of arrest, after they’d taken a beating. But doing so now gave me a few precious moments to take stock of the situation.

  There were over a dozen other sailors, each with their own teams, but only one of them stood out. He dressed much like the rest of the sailors but possessed a blue armband and seemed to be quietly ushering orders. Assuming Team Aqua went with the pirate theme, I’d guess that made him the first mate. Or perhaps the boatswain?

  “Son of a bitch! You think we fucking want your goddamn kids? We just wanted the goddamn fossils!” their captain swore. It was good to have confirmation that the children were not their targets, but there was still the chance that they would take them hostage if made desperate enough.

  “That will be determined once you are in custody. Surrender and save yourself the humiliation.”

  “Shut up! You think you can take all of us?”

  “I do,” I replied primly. I’d been told that this kind of behavior infuriated my opponents.

  “You’re a fucking rock type specialist, you dumb bitch. You have any idea how many water types we’ve got? We’re fucking Team Aqua!”

  It would be tricky, especially with the fossil pokemon in the ship, but I needed to keep them from leaving the dock. Otherwise, tracking them down again would be nearly impossible.

  Ideally, I would be able to delay them until all the children were recovered. I could go on the offensive when I received word from my allies, but until then, I’d have to be a castle amidst a siege.

  That was fine. That was exactly what I was best at.

  “Do you think my rock types are weak? Or perhaps that you would have an advantage even if you encountered me?” I asked quietly. It was a common notion, perhaps not necessarily a wrong one. I wasn’t just first in the traditional gym circuit; I also considered myself the weakest gym leader. “You will find that I am a cut above the average trainer.”

  “Like hell you are.” He swore and released his team. I saw a starmie, tentacruel, machamp, and a sharpedo that dove into the water. His ace was a battle-scarred crawdaunt whose claws were chipped jagged with use. Still, he did not touch the dive ball on his neck. “Rip her apart, men!”

  His men copied him. His first mate had a sharpedo, crawdaunt, and two mightyena who immediately took to herding the lesser pokemon released by the crewmates. I marked them as priority targets. Any coordination in a group this size was to be stamped out mercilessly.

  As for the rest of the ship, I saw a roughly even blend of poliwhirl, corphish, machop, poochyena, and zubat. I wondered why it was that they all had the same pokemon. Was there a bargain bin pirate sign-on bonus? Join now and get a free corphish?

  Wry humor aside, there was a worrying number of them. Sixteen to eighteen sailors meant a grand total of over one hundred possible combatants, assuming pirates would abide by legal carry limits. Even assuming that they didn’t have six pokemon, if only because feeding them all on a ship would be difficult, I could expect two to four pokemon per person.

  If they were any stronger, I might have been concerned.

  “Defensive protocols. Castle me,” I muttered so only my team could hear. Stone walls rose around me. We rose several feet into the air thanks to Bruce’s earth manipulation. I nearly tripped, but felt Lily’s roots wrap around my legs to steady me. Quietly, I tapped into my pokenav. “Have you found the children yet?”

  “Yes, ma’am. We’re securing them now,” Patrick, the gym trainer I’d left to help coordinate, answered on the other end. “We found one, two were found by the police, and the fourth has just been located by one Lisia Mikuri.”

  That was Leader Wallace’s niece. Yes, I supposed even she would not remain uninvolved. I’d have to thank her when this was done. “Keep me posted. I’ll delay them for as long as possible.”

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  “Yes, ma’am.”

  I looked on impassively as the horde of pokemon rushed my team. There were plenty of water and fighting types, but that was the rub: Type matchups didn’t matter nearly as much at higher levels. Some masters even claimed they were crutches for budding trainers, training wheels that should be shed and overcome as time went on.

  Dragons could learn to resist the cold. Grass types could build tolerances against heat. Hell, there were even examples of pokemon drastically changing their type alignment due to environmental factors. If the fire type vulpix could become an ice type in a few generations in Alola, type affinities were clearly more malleable than first theorized.

  My team had long since developed strategies to counter our most glaring flaws. As Marcus Moore once said, “A weakness I know about isn’t a weakness anymore.”

  The shimmering light that encased me expanded outward, enveloping my entire team in a large, dual-layered veil. Reflect and Light Screen on such a large scale was taxing, so I’d had Sunshine simply weaken the barriers. He didn’t need to negate everything, merely weaken all attacks to the point that Bruce and Chief could slap them aside. And what they could not touch, Lily picked apart with well-timed bursts of Bullet Seed.

  Meanwhile, Rose and Ferrus pooled their power to sabotage the boat with a joint use of Magnet Rise. Ideally, they would have targeted the rudder or the engine, but neither were psychics; they couldn’t affect something they couldn’t see. Not to mention, the ionic seawater would hamper their control beneath the waves if they targeted the rudder.

  So, they grabbed hold of the steering wheel and yanked. A ship of this size was sturdily built, it had to be to withstand the rigors of the sea and oceanic pokemon, but the steering wheel wasn’t built with an aggron and probopass in mind. The sound of tortured metal filled the air as the wheel was ripped clear from the deck.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” I smiled coldly. This was a waiting game now, and rock types were ever so patient.

  X

  Aaron Fulan

  I arrived to find Lisia and Chaz in an all-out brawl against two Aqua grunts. I’d told them to simply watch the parking garage exits, but maybe something happened to make them want to engage.

  It wasn’t going well. Lisia had four pokemon: swablu, slugma, ducklett, and clamperl. Chaz had three: machop, venonat, and growlithe. I didn’t see either the slugma or growlithe so I could only assume they’d been taken out of the equation sometime before I’d arrived. That tracked; Lisia did say she only recently caught the slugma and neither were the type to specifically train away a type weakness.

  The grunts had two machop, two corphish, a golbat, and a poliwhirl. Some of them looked pretty winded, but they were all in fighting shape. That made the battle five against six. One of the grunts held onto a boy by the scruff of the neck.

  It was very clear that neither Chaz nor Lisia were battlers. Lisia’s ducklett and swablu tried to keep the golbat from picking off Chaz’s venonat and machop but it was too fast. There was a lingering mist that clung to the ceiling, obscuring the golbat and keeping Lisia’s pokemon from landing a decisive blow. The two of them were only just managing to hold their own thanks to the numbers advantage.

  On the ground, that advantage was reversed. Her clamperl did its best to lock multiple pokemon in a Whirlpool, but one corphish used Aqua Jet to punch an allied machop out of the water while another simply swam through the current to bash at the clamperl with Crabhammer. It was soon forced to withdraw and use Iron Defense; it wouldn’t last long in a physical confrontation.

  The real danger was the poliwhirl. It was unusually well-trained, with an aggression that was atypical for its species. I didn’t know if that was because one of the grunts was higher up the ladder or because this poliwhirl was nearly ready for evolution, but it was kicking Macherie’s ass with minimal help from the others.

  I frowned in annoyance. My options were fairly limited so soon after our gym battle. Durvasa duked it out with both Roxanne’s graveler and nosepass before getting his shit kicked in by a lunatone. Jeanne then tuckered herself out to force a draw with the same moon rock.

  Though their wounds had been patched up already, stamina and aura reserves were different matters altogether. Charitably, I’d put the two of them at twenty percent efficiency, if that.

  ‘Perhaps we should release Magellan, my lord,’ Artoria said. She’d teleported in front of the poliwhirl, stopping it from landing a vicious Ice Punch against Macherie. ‘Ranged support would be excellent here.’

  ‘He’s still recovering. He can barely walk right now,’ I pointed out. I was loath to release him here; he’d be a sitting duck for the golbat’s Air Cutter.

  ‘Would he wish to be kept from this fight?’

  ‘No…’ I saw the clamperl go down, two corphish too much for the sluggish creature. Chaz’s venonat and Macherie stood alone against two machop, two corphish, and a poliwhirl. ‘I guess I don’t have much of a choice.’

  “Aaron!” Chaz and Lisia shouted as one. “You’re here!”

  “Never mind me. Magellan, you’re up,” I barked. The oversized chikorita materialized to my left, putting himself between my friends and the battle. “Razor Leaf, focus down the corphish and poliwhirl. Artoria, secure the child.”

  Durvasa and Jeanne might have been exhausted, but Artoria was as fresh as a daisy. With a flash of light, Artoria blinked out of sight, only to appear behind the grunts. A psychic construct formed over her silver spoon, extending her range until she held a “blade” almost three feet long.

  My ever-serious knight slammed the bowl of her spoon into the grunt holding the child. Her attack was light, and delivered like a bludgeon rather than an edged weapon, but it was still enough to fold the man in half like a taco.

  At the same time, dozens of knife-like leaves covered the parking garage, forcing the two corphish to stop beating on Lisia’s clamperl. Magellan’s barrage caught one of the corphish, knocking it out of the fight. That alone told me that, other than the poliwhirl, these pokemon were largely untrained.

  One of the two machop that had been trying to flank Chaz's venonat suddenly slumped in exhaustion. Its eyes were dilated and its breath came in ragged gasps. Poison, then. Chaz must have used Poison Powder at some point.

  “Now, Veronique, Confusion!” Chaz yelled, quickly capitalizing on the opportunity.

  His venonat expelled a pulse of psychic power that sent the exhausted machop flying. That left one machop, one corphish, a poliwhirl, and a golbat.

  The poliwhirl recovered from his momentary confusion at Artoria’s arrival and returned to beating the ever-loving shit out of Macherie. She did her best to hold her own, but the evolved tadpole was both bigger and had better reach, even if it wasn’t strictly stronger.

  It wove around her attacks and overwhelmed her with a combination of Ice Punch-infused Double Slaps that had clearly been drilled into it. When Magellan tried to assist with Razor Leaf, it spouted a Bubble Beam that knocked the leaves off course.

  “Can’t you do something about that poliwhirl?” Chaz asked. He had a white-knuckle grip on Macherie’s pokeball. He did need to train more, but this wasn’t how I’d wanted to drive the lesson home.

  I frowned, but released Jeanne anyway. “Magellan on the corphish. Jeanne, stall the poliwhirl. I know you’re exhausted, girl, but we need a little more from you.”

  “Flaaf,” she bleated. Even her usual cheery glow was muted.

  My hand went to Durvasa’s ball, but I refrained. He had battled two of Roxanne’s pokemon, and unlike Jeanne, had taken plenty of hits directly. He’d probably pout about missing this fight, but I’d been asked to give him a full day of recovery by the nurse.

  “No, Grace!” Lisia shouted.

  I looked up just in time to see the thick fog, probably Ali’s Mist or the golbat’s Haze, get partially dispersed by a violent current of air. Grace the ducklett plummeted to the ground as a salvo of Air Cutters, nearly invisible blades of wind, tore at her body.

  Thin streams of water surrounded her and glowed softly with aura, likey Aqua Ring. Whatever nourishment it provided was too little, too late, though. Lisia cried out in dismay as she returned her pokemon.

  “Bluu!” Ali cried, his emotions flaring with white-hot rage. A torrent of dragonfire spewed from his mouth, as large as the one I’d seen at the contest.

  The golbat screeched in pain as a plume of blue fire caught its left wing. The scream was practically a sonic attack in its own right. Even that wasn’t enough to take out the golbat. It twisted into a tight spiral and dove back into the thick, ice-laden fog.

  Swablu could learn Supersonic as well. Echolocation wasn’t an unreasonable expectation for a swablu as well-trained as Ali, but between him and a fucking golbat, I knew where I’d put my money. That damn thing was too agile in the air for Ali to land a clear hit, probably doubly so when Grace was also up there and might become collateral.

  Slowly though, the battle was turning. Artoria had quickly subdued one of the grunts before ushering the child to a safe place. It also confirmed for me that neither grunt had any other pokemon. Otherwise, they would have panic-released any last resorts they had when Artoria jumpscared them.

  The second grunt must have finally taken his eyes off my starter because he shouted, “Fuck! Take out the chikorita, golbat! Air Cutter!”

  The golbat must have been his because it dove back out of the fog. Its flight was erratic and unpredictable. Its wings glowed white before four blades of nearly invisible wind shrieked towards us.

  “Magellan, ignore the golbat,” I muttered. “Jeanne, shoot it down.”

  A powerful Shock Wave dispersed the Air Cutters and struck the golbat. It let out another pained shriek but wasn’t out yet. Next to me, Jeanne was already panting, her morning battle having taken its toll.

  I frowned in frustration as the golbat dove down. Its fangs glinted like needles with a dull, violet light. If Magellan went down, we’d lose our best counter to the poliwhirl.

  With no one else left to intercept it, I stepped forward and drew my sword. My blunted sword met the golbat’s fangs. There was no climactic spray of sparks, nor did our auras flash like two lightning bolts straining against each other.

  Though the golbat wasn’t nearly as strong as the scyther in the forest, it still had a lot of force. And, because it was biting my sword and not simply slashing at it, I could not simply parry that force aside. I caught the spine of my blade on my shoulder and did my best to not get thrown aside.

  Everyone underestimated how uncomfortably large these bats were. Most people imagined something a bit larger than zubat, which could fit in a grown man’s hands. These fuckers averaged more than five feet tall at the time of evolution and weighed a proportional amount. Trying to block one was like trying to block a small dining table… that flew… and had fangs.

  I’d almost lost my grip on my sword, but those few seconds proved to make the difference. Jeanne let out a furious, bleating warcry and, with the last dregs of her dwindling energy, slammed her tail-bulb into its head. A sharp tingle ran through the sword and up my arms as the golbat slumped into unconsciousness.

  That was just about the end of the battle. Magellan nailed the last corphish with Razor Leaf. Ali, now free from the golbat, divebombed the machop with Peck. The poliwhirl put up a fight and managed to defend itself from Magellan’s barrage with Ice Punch and Bubble Beam, but that only lasted until Artoria returned with murder in her eyes.

  “Magellan, Vine Whip. Wrap up the grunts,” I said once I’d returned all of their pokemon. I dialed Roxanne and the police. “Hello? This is Aaron. We’ve secured the last child…”

  Author’s Note

  I think that most grunts should be strong enough to beat most rookie trainers. Sure, the protagonist steamrolls through them, but the protagonist is a miracle-child, the prodigy who clears the League in a single year. Those exist here, but they’re the kinds of people who have legends written about them.

  Most rookie trainers are like Chaz and Lisia. Could they have won against the two grunts without Aaron? Possibly, but only if they went in with the right mentality. I think that most fights (even in the real world) are determined not by who’s absolutely stronger in a vacuum, but by the willingness to cause harm (and risk beng harmed in turn).

  Chaz and Lisia don’t have that kind of mentality. They haven’t fully internalized the notion that this isn’t a formal battle, but a potentially lethal fight. Lisia is better than Chaz by virtue of Wallace, but this is her first real scenario.

  Meanwhile, the grunts are very used to the idea of hurting other people. They’re not necessarily “bad” trainers. A disregard for the law doesn’t automatically make you an idiot. They’re people who, if they bothered to go through the gym circuit, would have a badge or two by now.

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