CHAPTER 107

Turtonator. The word echoed in my head, and my ears started to ring. I squinted at the blackboard to get a better look. I had heard of the Pokemon before, but it was my first time actually seeing what it looked like. Cecilia seemingly noticed that something was wrong with me and tapped on my shoulder. I blinked a few times and frowned. Why did just hearing the name have such an effect on me?

“It’s native to Alola’s many volcanoes, and again, we can’t be one hundred percent sure of how it got there, but we have a pretty good idea,” instructor Brockhouse said before humming. “It’ll take a few weeks to verify this through the Pokeball ID database, but we believe that this Turtonator belonged to a trainer who died trying to cross Mount Coronet. The first witnesses— so around a week and a half ago— reported first seeing it being in a state of complete rage and standing next to a broken Pokeball, which we’re attempting to recover.”

I felt my heart drop. Trained Pokemon tended to be docile or less aggressive to humans, but a Pokemon that had lost its trainer recently would obviously go beserk unless they had a terrible or abusive relationship. Hell, Craig’s Salamence had killed a slew of people after he was just injured by their Pokemon. Brockhouse’s theory made sense. It explained why a Turtonator would suddenly show up out of nowhere and why it’d be attacking trainers.

“Since I talked to you about burns, you can obviously guess that it’s a fire type, but I urge you to remember that it’s a dragon type as well,” the instructor warned. “No matter how good you think you are, if you decide to cross now instead of waiting for us to deal with the problem, do not engage. It was last spotted near…”

The ranger trailed off, and I retreated into my thoughts. It wasn’t like me to ignore things like this, but Denzel would catch me up on anything I asked. If Turtonator had belonged to a trainer that died, what about the trainer’s other Pokemon? Were they still in there somewhere, trapped in their Pokeballs? The rangers would no doubt free them if they came across them, but it was a morbid thing to think about. Still… something was tugging at me.

“...we’ve retrieved a few lost Pokeballs with other Pokemon from Alola, lending further proof that our theory is correct, but Turtonator has somehow avoided capture until now, and it has shown to be highly intelligent, so again, beware. I went over treating burns in the first-aid section of the class, but if you didn’t pay attention—” he paused, staring at a few people in the back of the class. “I cannot force you to retake this course, but I highly encourage it. With that, you’re free to go.”

I shot up and practically jogged out of the classroom. So much so in fact, that Brockhouse had to call out to me because I was about to forget to get my ticket. I hurriedly grabbed it and anxiously bit the inside of my mouth while I waited for my friends to get out.

“Denzel,” I said immediately when I saw him.

“Woah,” he exclaimed with a surprised expression. “Something’s lit a fire in you.”

“I’m going back to my room,” I continued, ignoring him. “Can we postpone the meeting we were supposed to have?”

“Uh, yeah, no problem,” he frowned.

“Call us if you need anything,” Cece said. “We can decide when to leave later. Plus, I’m sure we ought to have at least one day of rest.”

“Thanks guys,” I said. “Sorry Justin, I’ll help you with training later!”

I was running by the time I finished that sentence. Forget trying out Tangrowth in battle, I needed to get to my room now. I entered the Pokemon Center, called the elevator, but opted to take the stairs when it was taking too long. I pushed through the annoying group that liked to stay camped by my door with half-promises of battling or signing autographs later and sat on my desk with my Poketch in hand.

Turtonator.

I entered the Pokemon’s name online and looked at what came up. It specialized in defense, and its shell was nigh unpenetrable by physical attacks, but its defense against special moves wasn’t anything to scoff at either. Not only that, but it could make its shell explode at any kind of contact, which made attacking it from up close extremely difficult. And of course, it was a good attacker. A really good one, never mind that it was a dragon type. That was just the cherry on top.

I swallowed. The tug was still there. Chase described it when we had still been stranded up north, and now I knew exactly what he meant.

I wanted to catch this thing.

But… a part of me hesitated, still. The ranger had explicitly warned us. This Pokemon was dangerous and aggressive. I’d potentially be risking my life if I even tried to get near this thing. It was smart. It knew about Pokemon trainers, so it would probably go after me right away instead of fighting my Pokemon.

Plus, there wasn’t only me to worry about. Could I allow myself to risk the others in such a way? There was no way that they’d just let me try to convince Turtonator to join me on my own—

Convincing Turtonator to join me…

I let out a heavy sigh as I sunk into my chair. The ethics of trying to capture a Pokemon that had just recently belonged to someone were iffy, to say the least, and it made me feel dirty. Not only that, but it meant that actually getting Turtonator to become a part of my team would be extremely difficult, and it’d be attacking me at the same time.

And that was if I could even find it in the mountain. We had its last location, but it probably had moved to someplace else by now.

Did even thinking about this make me a bad person in the first place? Could I allow myself to do this?

I stared at my ceiling and groaned. “I can allow myself to be selfish just this once, can’t I? I can at least give it a try, and if it doesn’t work out, well… that’ll be that.”

I pressed the home button on my Poketch and texted Denzel.

Me

Hey. You going to be doing your info gathering?

Denzel W.

Yeah, obv. Why? Need something?

Me

I know this is a lot to ask, but if you could try to find a trainer that ran into Turtonator and ask them about it, I’d really appreciate it.

Denzel W.

I knew it. You want to catch it, don’t you?

Me

Yeah, I’m sorry. I know it’ll be dangerous, but I can handle it on my own. You’re better at getting information from people, so I figured I’d ask you to do that while I keep looking up stuff about Turtonator online in my room.

Denzel W.

Alright, I gotcha. But you absolutely aren’t fighting that thing on your own.

Me

We’ll talk about that later. Thank you, though. Seriously, I don’t know what I’d do without you.

Denzel W.

You’d manage. TTYL.

I stared at my screen with a satisfied smile. Denzel was seriously the best friend someone could ask for, and I’m glad he was with me. I went back to browsing the internet. Even though I wanted to speak to Turtonator, I knew this would be a battle, so I would go at it like I did with any tough fight.

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I would come prepared.

——

Denzel whistled a song as he calmly but purposely walked into the Pokemon Center. Grace had asked him a favor, and he’d gladly do it. Cece was off having her daily spat with her Scyther, while Pauline and Justin were battling as many trainers as they could. From what he understood, Grace was mostly teaching Justin how to strategize because stalling obviously needed a huge amount of planning, while Cecilia was teaching Pauline how to use power to break through her enemies. Two distinct styles of battling and two students. Denzel wondered who’d end up on top by the time they ended up battling Fantina. It had almost turned into a competition of some kind to see who was the better teacher.

He kind of wished he had a student of his own, though.

His eyes scanned the packed Pokemon Center lobby, settling on each wounded person he saw for a few seconds before moving on to the next. He was looking for information about a Turtonator, so he needed someone with burns.

His whistling sharply stopped when he noticed a trainer with a bandage over her right arm. She was a short girl with dark hair and a bob cut. Of course, bandages weren’t an obvious sign of a burn victim, but what convinced him this girl was one was that her neck was red and covered in blisters, meaning that the burns covered the entire right side of her body, and the edges of her hair were singed. Looking closer, he noticed a bandage right under her jeans too.

Well, there was no point in beating around the bush. Denzel strode up to her and struck up a friendly wave and smile.

“Hey. Can I bother you for a sec?” he asked.

The girl looked up at him angrily, but her expression switched to surprise when she noticed him. “Um— Y—yeah, of course. You’re Denzel Williams, right? I’m not crazy?”

“You’re probably saner than I am,” he laughed. “What’s your name?”

“My name?”

“Yeah,” he nodded.

“Oh! I’m Caitlyn Spencer. I guess you can call me Cait. Sorry that you have to see me in such a pitiful state, it’s like, super embarrassing.”

“What?” Denzel scoffed. “Come on, don’t apologize for being hurt, it happens to all of us, even top-level trainers,” he said, thinking of Craig. “I’m glad you survived, but do you have a group you travel with? And your Pokemon? Did they all make it out okay?”

Caitlyn stared at the ground and fiddled with her hands under the table. “Yeah, I’m okay, I guess, but one of my friends is on oxygen because of smoke inhalation,” she said with a grimace. “The rest of them are actually grabbing food for all of us right now,” she continued embarrassingly. “Since I have two badges, I got cocky and thought I could fight a Turtonator. I only lived by the skin of my teeth by hiding behind a boulder before a Flamethrower could get to me. Still burned like a motherfucker, though.”

Ah, the conversation had naturally progressed toward what he wanted. Denzel liked to break the ice and converse with his fellow trainers, even if they would probably never meet again. There were so many stories to be heard and told, so much information to be exchanged that he couldn’t just stay in his little corner like his friends liked to do.

“I wanted to talk to you about that Turtonator, actually,” Denzel said. “If you don’t mind?”

“No! It’s fine,” Caitlyn exclaimed. “Ask away.”

“Can you tell me how it fought?”

The girl stared at the ceiling, like she was desperately trying to recall what had happened.

“It’s fine if you don’t remember,” Denzel said with a warm smile. “Thanks for trying anyway.”

“No, I remember, it’s just difficult. It’s all kind of a blur, with all the screaming, and the adrenaline… it takes a bit to actually recall what happened,” Caitlyn mumbled. “I tried using my Poliwhirl to fight it from a distance, but its flames were strong enough to just evaporate our water type attacks, so then I tried to make it fight from up close and…” she winced. “The shell just exploded. If I hadn’t recalled Poliwhirl right after, then… then…”

“It’s okay,” he said. “Hey, let’s just stop this, I can just go and ask someone else.”

Denzel didn’t want to make someone recall their traumatic memories. It reminded him of Grace and Cecilia too much.

“Yeah… sorry. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to make it through now,” she sighed. “Every time I look at the cave’s entrance, my legs just start to shake, and I can’t move.”

Behind every trainer, there was a story. Laughs, pain, loss, trauma, victories. They weren’t just colleagues, they were people.

Denzel leaned forward and clapped her non-injured shoulder. “You take care of yourself, Cait.”

“Yeah. Thanks for talking to me. I kind of feel better now.”

“Feel free to book an appointment for therapy with the nurses in here. They’re really good at their job,” he said before leaving.

“Wait! Could I get your number, maybe? I feel like it’d help if I talked to you.”

Denzel raised an eyebrow. “Sure, but don’t use me as a substitute for a therapist.”

He had already been one multiple times, and he had no idea what he had been doing. It was honestly a miracle it had worked out. After that whole debacle, he started scanning the lobby again but stopped in his tracks when he saw that Pauline was staring at him at the Center’s entrance with her arms crossed as she tapped her foot on the ground and a frustrated look on her face. Denzel thought nothing of it and walked up to her.

“‘Sup?” He asked. “You’re staring daggers at me, I’m kind of feeling self-conscious,” he said playfully.

“Why were you talking with that girl for so long?” she asked.

Yikes. She was using her accusatory tone and not her playful, ironic one.

“I was helping Grace out with something. Gathering info,” he answered plainly.

“Well, she sure seemed to be having the time of her life,” Pauline huffed. “She was basically coming onto you.”

“Quit it,” Denzel said. He had hung out enough times with Pauline to know that whenever she stepped out of line, you needed to put your foot down immediately. “There’s nothing there. And even if there was, it shouldn’t bother you because… well, you know why.”

Pauline clicked her tongue. “Whatever.”

“Come on, stop acting so possessive. We’re friends. You’re being a kid.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t trust the first girl that shows up,” Pauline said. “Justin’s and Emilia’s parents might be off our backs, but Harvey and Clarence still have skin in the game. She could be a spy.”

“I think you should cool off for a bit,” Denzel said. “You’re better than this, Pauline.”

He walked off and ignored her complaints. Why would she be jealous now? After he laid everything on the line back during her birthday?

Just recalling the moment made Denzel cringe, but it had been handled well and maturely by both of them, or at least he thought so. Late at night, during Pauline’s birthday, he had asked her out. He had believed the moment to be right, with all of the emotion of their awaited reunion, the party winding down, and people going back to their rooms, but Pauline rebuked him immediately for one reason.

She was dating Emilia. Well, they were de facto dating. Emi supposedly didn’t like labels.

The part that made Denzel cringe wasn’t that he had been rejected. No, that was fine. He shot his shot and failed. Sure, it hurt— hell, it still kind of did, but the two had agreed to stay friends, and Denzel had been quick to give up and move on, especially with the Louis incident. They had gone back to normal the next day as if nothing had happened. Denzel had never thought about going off on his own. Everyone dealt with heartbreak in their own way, and Denzel never felt the need to get some time to himself. He and Pauline were friends, and nothing more, and he genuinely felt fine with this development. There were plenty of fishes in the sea, although it’d probably be a while until he found someone else that he liked.

The part that made him cringe was that he hadn’t noticed that Pauline and Emilia were dating. The signs had all been there. In hindsight, they were just like Grace and Cecilia, but just way better at hiding it. There had always been that vibe between them, but since they never said anything to the group, he felt like he had a chance with Pauline. According to her, Emilia was adamant about keeping the relationship secret, mostly because her parents were deeply set in their old ways and would never approve, but also because she felt uncomfortable with being open with her sexuality, which Denzel felt terrible about. No one should have had to hide who they were. Pauline had even said that Grace and Cece revealing their relationship had almost convinced her to come out, but she chickened out at the last moment— the morning when they left— and opted to say nothing, using Louis’ condition as an excuse.

Anyway, the point was, he was fine with the way things were now, but Pauline was seemingly kicking up a fuss and acting jealous at him? And he hadn’t even been flirting at all! Sure, Caitlyn had been somewhat shy and flustered, but even if she had a crush, so what? Pauline was dating someone else.

Denzel sighed and returned to his information gathering. His team already almost drowned him in relationship drama, and he had had enough of that daily. Why couldn’t life just be simple? If people were more straightforward with each other instead of playing these little games, then society would probably be better off.

The trainer perked up when he saw another person with burns. He stepped toward the boy, who was talking to two other people in his group with a smile, and waved.

“Hey guys, can I borrow a moment of your time?”

——

“Are we ready?” Denzel asked the group. We all nodded and started walking toward Mount Coronet with our tickets in hand.

A day had passed since I had resolved to catching Turtonator, and I had a strategy in place. Not to beat it, but to buy time while I talked things through, and I had also convinced my friends to stay in the back unless things looked really bad after hours of begging, although their psychic types would help to protect me from attacks. Still, I trusted that my Pokemon would be able to protect me, and I knew enough about Turtonator as a species not to fall into its traps.

Meanwhile, Denzel had expertly gathered information for me. I knew the way Turtonator personally fought as an individual, and I knew a bunch of its moves that I’d need to watch out for. Now all I needed to do was find it.

We handed our tickets to the rangers standing guard, and I took a deep breath before stepping forward. We had everything, including a trove of potions. Having rich friends would always come in handy. We also had burn heals and better caving equipment than before.

“Let’s go,” I breathed out.

We all looked at each other and stepped into Mount Coronet once more.