‘The general’ turned out to be a tall, broad-shouldered man in a military outfit. He looked every inch what you’d expect from a general, except for his hair; he had long, wild hair that was a brilliant flame-red, and a bushy mustache to match. The man immediately marched up to the campfire and took charge like it was his natural right.
“Trainer Edwin, I assume you have finished gathering the supplemental troop?” he asked as he stopped at the edge of the light and surveyed us all, not letting any expression show on his face.
“Yes, sir!” Edwin replied as he stood at attention. “All the expected representatives are here. We have eight trainers in attendance, not counting my apprentices back in the city.”
“Good.” The man’s eyebrows rose when he saw Florence and me perched next to Michael, and they went up a little further when he spotted Luca sitting cross-legged a little further back. He didn’t comment on us being included, though; instead, he launched straight into what sounded like a prepared speech. “Welcome, trainers. I appreciate you all taking the time to travel here and assist us. For those who don’t know me, I am General Finnegan Burke, and I am in charge around here. I understand that you all have specialty knowledge and I welcome your input, but I have dealt with my share of hot-headed trainers before. Know this: given the complexities of battle, Trainer Edwin and I will have the final say, especially on the field, with no arguments. If you cannot accept that, you may leave now.”
I sat back a bit at that, startled. Next to me Florence was frowning and Michael had flattened his expression, like he didn’t want to show how he felt. I glanced around at the others and saw that their reactions were similar; no one liked the idea of being ordered around by the people from Violet. Still, no one got up and left, though I was willing to bet some people had already privately decided that they would do what they wanted, and never mind the consequences.
Finnegan nodded curtly, then started pacing back and forth in front of the campfire. “You should already be aware of the situation. Scores of majū have been battling outside of our walls for the past week, to a degree more extreme than anyone has seen since the Great Brawl of ’76. And that time, at least the creatures had the decency to keep their fighting within the ranges of Mt. Mortar instead of trespassing onto neutral territory.”
“Though that still left us with quite a bit of secondary damage to deal with,” Hisa pointed out. “Many of the buildings in the East District of Ecruteak were damaged by the earthquakes.”
Finnegan bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement. “We have already tried interrupting the battlers, to chase them into their own lands where they can do as much damage as they like. The creatures either ignore our soldiers or, if they get in the way, attack them directly.” He turned to Edwin and examined the man with hard eyes. “Trainer Edwin, please inform the troop of what we know about the enemy.”
Edwin nodded, then cast his eyes over the rest of us. “The main combatants are majū of the Growlithe and Nidoran lines,” he said, “though the local Vulpix pack appears to have allied with the Growlithe in recent days. The Growlithe and their second level, Arcanine, are fire majū. The monsters are deceptively fast and their fire attacks are devastating. The Nidoran herd are poison-types, and nasty creatures; they’re covered in deadly spines and can throw poison darts from a distance as well. The majority of the fighters are of the first level, but there are several higher-class majū among their numbers as well.” He scowled suddenly. “Some of you might have seen the damage a Nidoking did to our southern gate. One of my apprentices was caught in the blast, and the damn monster broke his leg in three places.”
“Do you have an estimate on how many majū there are?” Michael asked. His face was still blank, but his Hoothoot was shifting worriedly on his shoulder.
“We have no idea,” Edwin replied. “When Fearow and I went out to fight them ourselves, two new creatures took the field for every one we knocked out.” His Fearow clawed at the ground and pulled up clods of dirt as he paused to think. “One of our researchers told me they seem to be working in shifts, sending new waves of fighters out every time the current wave retreats. That may be how they’ve managed to sustain the battle for so long with so few pauses.”
“Numbers like that could be a problem,” Jordan said, his voice low. He was sitting well back in the shadows, and I could just barely make out a frown on his face. “There are moves that can hit a range of opponents, but most are hard to control. If you try to spread them too far you end up doing damage to your surroundings and allies as well.”
“Indeed,” Finnegan said. “That is why we are not going to use regular attacks at all.”
“What?” I said out loud before I could stop myself. But I wasn’t the only one; several of the others made surprised noises as well.
“If this foe could be beaten back with brute force alone, we would have handled the matter ourselves,” the general said, and he sounded a bit put out that he hadn’t been able to fix everything on his own. “But these majū are tricky creatures. That means we must be tricky ourselves in response.”
Hisa’s Misdreavus cackled loudly at that comment; apparently he liked the idea. The ghost floated over his trainer’s shoulder and shook his head slowly so that his long tendrils of hair floated about. “Dre, mis vus,” he said, then cackled again.
Hisa smiled slightly as he leaned forward. “If tricks are what you want, then my partner is more than willing to oblige. What exactly did you have in mind?”
Finnegan and Edwin shared a glance, and Edwin turned to the rest of us. “We want to incapacitate the lowest-level majū with secondary effects,” he told us. “Sleep if possible, but stunning or freezing them should work as well. Something that will leave the creatures vulnerable so that our soldiers can drag them away and clear the field.”
I considered what Edwin had said and slowly nodded my head. It made sense, really. Why knock out a Pokemon when you just needed it to stop fighting for a while? Status effects would give us the edge we needed to end the battles. Pausso knew Hypnosis and had practiced with it for a long time, so I was sure he’d be able to send lower-level Pokemon to sleep when they were already worn down and distracted.
Most of the others seemed to like the plan as well, and each of the trainers quietly conferred with their partner as they planned which move might work best. Except for Hisa, who just frowned and shook his head. “I am afraid we may not be able to help after all, Edwin. The only move my partner knows that is similar to what you describe is Confuse Ray, and that does not incapacitate the opponent, it merely makes them… erratic.”
“Actually, Trainer Hisayuki, that is exactly what we need,” Finnegan said before Edwin could reply. Hisa raised his eyebrows in a silent question. “The researchers think that these moves will not work on the highest-level majū. We need you and Trainer Edwin to distract the heavy-hitters and lure them away from the battlefield once the others have cleared the ground of low-level creatures. Confuse Ray should work well enough for that.”
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Hisa hummed quietly and exchanged a look with his Misdreavus. “I suppose we could do that,” he said after a moment’s thought. “We have a few other tricks up our sleeves as well that may prove useful.”
From the back of the group, Kiah hesitantly raised a hand. “My partner does not have any incapacitating moves, nor do I think she is fast enough to lure other majū away without being caught in battle herself,” he said, absently petting his Corsola’s spines as if to apologize for his words. “However, she has learned a new move in the past year that can be used to heal other majū. Perhaps we could serve as backup for the others?”
The general thought for a moment, then clapped his hands together. “An excellent suggestion!” he said loudly, making Kiah jump a little. “Trainer Edwin, perhaps your apprentices could assist in making a base that the troop can retreat to as needed?”
Edwin immediately confirmed that that should be possible, and Finnegan nodded again as if it were a done deal. “So, does everyone understand their roles? Good. In that case, I have some closing remarks before I head back to –“
“Excuse me,” Isaac interrupted, stepping forward from where he had been waiting by Hisa before. “I also have a suggestion.”
Finnegan glanced over at Isaac, then squared his shoulders. “Yes, trainer?”
Isaac laughed shortly. “Oh, I am no trainer. I am a researcher of majū. I accompanied some of the others here.” He cleared his throat, then fished around in the pouch to his side. “My colleagues and I have been working on a device that I think may prove useful in this endeavor.”
“Here we go,” I muttered as Isaac pulled one of the poke balls we’d developed out of his bag. Florence frowned slightly and Michael sat forward, his eyes attentive. I glanced over at Pausso, curious what his reaction would be, and rolled my eyes when I saw he had managed to fall asleep while sitting up.
Isaac briefly explained the poke ball project to the assembled group, this time leaving out most of the scientific and engineering details and mainly focusing on what the balls did. The group was incredulous at first, until Isaac asked Florence to demonstrate on Hoppip. After she had shown how she could recall and send out her Pokemon, everyone started talking at once.
“Settle down!” Finnegan bellowed after a minute had passed and no progress had been made in the conversation. Then he turned to Isaac. “I am sure our researchers will salivate over this new toy, but how will it help us in battle?”
“You said before that you would employ soldiers to move incapacitated majū off the field,” Isaac replied. “If we capture the majū first, moving them becomes trivial. Once the battle is contained, we can use our own majū to reach a compromise with them, then release them back into the wild at an acceptable distance from the city.”
Finnegan harrumphed. “These are wild creatures, man. I hardly think one can compromise with them.”
“Drowzee and I can help,” I volunteered. Everyone turned to look at me and my (sleeping) Pokemon, and I felt myself blushing. “We’ve done it before,” I said, forcing myself to continue. “He can talk to the majū and send what they’re saying back to me. And the wild majū are smarter than you’d think. I’m sure they’re not battling like this for no good reason.”
The general considered this for a few long moments as he stroked his mustache. Then he nodded decisively. “We will experiment with this new technology,” he said, sounding as confident as if he’d invented the poke balls himself. “Trainer Edwin, ensure that the troop learns how to use these new devices before we engage with the enemy tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir,” Edwin said, though he cast a dubious look at Isaac as he spoke.
Finnegan kept speaking for a few more minutes after that, but I tuned him out when it became clear that he wasn’t saying anything meaningful. Instead, I replayed the plan in my head. Have Pausso take out the Pokemon while they were fighting with Hypnosis; catch them using the prototype poke balls; translate for some of the Pokemon to see if we could figure out what the problem was so we could solve it; use the release mechanism to send all the Pokemon back home (unless some of them wanted to stay and expand Florence’s team). It seemed straightforward enough. Sure, there were questions around what we would do if Hypnosis failed, or if the Pokemon broke out of the prototype balls, but our opponents would already be worn down from fighting each other. It should mostly work as long as we were careful.
Eventually the general left, and all the trainers gathered around Isaac so they could ask questions about how the poke balls worked and how to use them. I helped out for a bit, but Isaac was able to manage things pretty well on his own; he was even trying to convince the trainers to record their capture rates so we could analyze the data later on. So when Florence told me that she was going to go off and do her meditation and target practice, I was glad for the excuse to wake Pausso up and tag along.
The four of us walked past the decaying buildings and broken statues in silence. I rubbed my arms and shivered as we passed one ruin that had a gaping, open hole of an entryway. The inside of the building was a pure black, which meant that anything could be hiding there. Now that we had moved out of the firelight and into the night, the surrounding ruins felt even creepier than they had when we’d first arrived.
“That should work,” Florence said quietly, pointing to a clear patch of land bordered by a crumbling wall. I sighed in relief; I could still hear the voices of the group from behind us, and that meant that if something happened we could yell and they would come help us. There was even a bit of ambient light that helped me make out the stones and debris that covered the ground.
We all sat in the new arrangement we had adopted while traveling, with Florence sitting a few feet away from me, Hoppip to her right and Pausso to mine, the four of us forming the corners of a square. I settled into my cross-legged meditation pose and closed my eyes, trying to slow down the hammering of my heart by breathing deeply. Half an hour of quiet and introspection would help calm me down, right?
“What are you all doing?”
I yelped and jumped up to my feet, whirling around to face the direction that the voice came from. For a few moments I couldn’t see anything, and my heart nearly beat out of my chest – was it a ghost, maybe? Then my eyes finally found a small form in the darkness. “Luca?” I asked, my voice squeaky.
The short boy emerged from the shadows, his Piloswine close to his side. “Are you really just going to sit there?” he asked, sounding disappointed. “That is no fun.”
“We are meditating,” Florence said, her voice stern (and only a little startled). “It is an important part of our training. I would think you would know that, as you are a trainer yourself.”
“Oh,” Luca said, now sounding even more disappointed. “My uncle does that with his majū and makes us do it too sometimes. I hate sitting still, it’s so boring.”
I breathed deeply, trying to calm my still-racing heart. “Why’d you follow us then?”
“I thought you were going exploring!” the boy said cheerfully as his Pokemon started sniffing around the ground near one of the broken statues. “My buddy and I have wanted to look around this place since we got here, but Hisa said we shouldn’t. But now he is busy talking to your friend, so we can do what we want!” Luca looked between me and Florence, then grinned widely. “Would you like to join us?”
“Drow!” Pausso said from next to me. I looked over at him and barely held in an exasperated groan when I saw that he was twitching his ears eagerly. Across from him, Hoppip just looked confused until Pausso said something to him. Then the little grass Pokemon hopped from one foot to the other in excitement.
Surely Florence would have more sense than to agree to this. I looked over to see that she was tilting her head to the side, and there was a new light in her eyes. “Now that you mention it, I did think some of these old buildings might have some pretty interesting majū in them…”
I stared at her, horrified. “Florence! What about training?”
She just shrugged in reply. “I do not think missing one night would do much harm. Besides, I keep thinking about tomorrow’s battle. I will not be able to focus properly on meditation tonight as I currently am.” She grinned and nodded firmly. “A good adventure should help me focus my thoughts.”
I swallowed another groan. Somehow, it looked like I was the only one who did not want to explore the dark, creepy, potentially-dangerous ruins in the middle of the night without even a lantern to guide the way.
Yet somehow, I felt sure I would still get dragged along.