Teo had managed to do what he came to Canalave for in a matter of an hour. As soon as that lecture was over, he put the road under his soles. Canalave didn't interest him all that much, and he was quick to find a place for himslef. The docks were dark-grey place of concrete, encasing the wilding river underneath. He promptly sat on the edge, swinging his legs some 20 meters above water, wandered what it would feel like to fall into the water. It was probably cold this time of the year. He would've sat on the bench instead, but they weren't any. Really, there was nothing but concrete and a few metal beams.
With nothing else to do, he played around on his pokedex. Immediately, he scanned Totodile's pokeball again. Just for fun he re-checks his moves. They are all still good. At the bottom of 'general info' tab, he finds the registration button that would allow him to link Totodile to his student profile. Just like that, after a few more buttons pressed, Totodile's officially registered as his pokemon. Strangely enough, the action gives him a rush of adrenaline. Although he had Totodile this past week as well, he couldn't exactly let it out of his pokeball. He managed to do it a few times, trying to train, but he'd retract the water type as soon as he had a scare that someone would pass by. Meaning, he didn't get to do any training, for the second week straight. Other than trying to get Totodile to use any move other than Aqua Jet, which didn't work, he made no progress. Now that Totodile was officially registered though that would be changing. He has about a month to catch up to everyone else. More importantly, he didn't get to take part in any battles while he was at school. The thought of it excited him more. After losing to Joe that time in Lilicove, he decided he'd be taking a slower route first. He already knew who he'd be challenging first, as soon as Monday comes.
He'll have to train over the weekend, but that would not be a problem. He's going home. Training would be the only thing for him to do anyways. It wasn't exactly his sincere wish of seeing his hometown again that had made him decide to go home. Rather, it was a necessity. There was something he had to do. Better said, something he had to get his hands on, and the only place he knew he could find it was Spikemuth. He could only hope Joe would do well on his threat to bring more pots to school.
Partly, he decided to go home because the rest of his teammate's would go as well. Joe was first to decide that, and Sam was quick to follow. It didn't surprise Teo, Sam seemed like a type to be nostalgic. Ace informed them yesterday he'd be going as well. It surprised no one, since the blond boy spent the week sleep talking, saying how he'll go back to Kanto and crush some guy named Gregory. Teo had no idea what Gregory did to spite Ace, nor did he care, he just pitied anyone who would alowed himself to be crushed by Ace. Ves ended up saying he'll be going as well, so Teo was the last to make the decision. He really didn't want to spend the weekend rotting alone in their room. Not that he had particularly liked his teammates being there either, but he has gotten kind of used to their presence, and it would be weird to spend a night in the dormitories without them. Besides, he's been thinking about getting that certain thing for a bit now, and this was a good opportunity.
Thinking about it yet again, he took out Absol's pokeball as well, nervously flipping it in his hands. He hoped his idea would help, at least a little bit. He'd ran out of the soothing berries on Wednesday. Luckily, they were working so far, he managed to feed Absol thanks to them. However, the progress was painstakingly slow. Absol, upon finishing his meal, would just hiss and roar at the boy, threatening to attack. At least it never came down to that again. With each passing day, he felt worse about it. Almost two weeks have passed by since he got assigned Absol as his partner, yet he still couldn't release him from the pokeball without fearnig for his owm life. He wondered if it was supposed to be like that. Was it a cruel twist of fate, that he recieves a pokemon that hates his guts? He couldn't battle with his partner, he couldn't feed it, couldn't train, hell, he couldn't even think of a good nickname. With a sigh, he returned Absol's pokeball into his pocket, thinking how he'll have to find a pokemon center in Canalave later in order to feed him. He could check if any markets held soothing berries as well. When he came to Spikemuth, that problem would be solved, hopefully.
Teo didn't really want to leave the docks right then. The city was bustling with his classmates, including his teammates, and he had no wishes of running into anyone. Especially since those two, Mikey and Dominic were there as well. After everything that went down with Sam he hated them even more. The thought came back to him, how they were 500 points behind everyone else. His eyes wandered off into the distance. He saw a small ship rolling in from the distance. He tried focusing on it, in order to remove all the other thoughts from his head.
It didn't work. They were 500 points behind. Teo, although he would never admit it out loud, knew one thing. He was going to fail the year. Of course he would. That's how his life usually goes, every tide turns against him. For starters, he was not a test-taker. He could improve his academic scores a bit, but he's definitely not landing into top 50 that way. Far from it. Absol wouldn't even come out of his pokeball, and Totodile only ever used one move, so he doubted battles would get him much further. Given good match-up, perhaps he could rack up a few points, but again, nothing that would drive him into top 50. Even if both of his pokemon miraculously started listening to his every word this instant, he was still 2 weeks behind everyone else when it came to training. He was not passing on his own. As a team, theoretically, they could still manage to pass. However, it would require Ace, Ves and Joe to do all of the heavy lifting. And Teo had no fate in neither Ace or Ves. Joe, on the other hand, could probably pass on his own. It was, however, unlikely that he could get the whole team to pass. Unless he went crazy and won both singles tournaments they are supposed to have that year, it would be impossible.
The ship only ever inched closer. It was going to dock there, Teo thought. Come to think about it, it was strange that there were no other ships there. The docks were batren entirely. He looked around, trying to reason, when he saw a yellow sign in the distance. He couldn't read what it said exactly, but the shape and black stripes told him the place was probably out of order. Further away was a series of concrete boxes he had passed by on his way there. Now he was pretty sure those were storages. This whole area was a cargo zone, he realised. It made sense, a bit further upstream from where he sat there was a widening in the river's body. The water was slow and deep enough there for the ships to dock. But the place was most definitley out of business, he was certain about it now. He watched as the ship came in with curiosity. He should leave. Or call the police. Or just stay and see what's going on for himself.
Boredom does its thing, and Teo decides to jump up, going closer to the place where he expected the ship to dock. Hiding himself behind one of the metal beams, he watches on, as the ship comes in closer to the concrete walls. When it finally places itself parallel to the ground, an anchor flies down, hitting the water. Three ropes fly from the side, hitting onto a few shorter metal beams. Teo still can't see who or what is on the ship. For a little while, nothing happens. Then, from the ship, somebody lowers a metalic plate, connecting the boat to the ground.
A young looking man, presumably in his late 20s, carefully makes his way over it. As soon as he gets off, he starts looking around, as if he's searching for something. Teo already doesn't like this, but it's too late to leave now. If he were to move, the guy would see him. Making sure no one was around, he waves his hand towards the boat, as if gesturing for someone to come. A Machoke is the first one that appears on the plate, bearing two metal cages in his arms. Following him, two more guys walk out, carrying a third cage.
It doesn't take long for Teo to connect the dots. Poachers, he realises. Peeking at the cages a bit better he quickly recognises the pokemon inside. Machoke carried cages with Litleo and Dedenne, while the two guys carried a cage with an Inkay. Although most pokemon were widespread throughout different regions, some were still forbidden to be brought in, for anyone but registered pokemon trainers, for various reasons. Dedenne, for example, was a pest native to Kalos region that reproduced like crazy, landing it on the red list. Inkay was considered generally dangerous for being psychic and dark type, so introducing the species to any other region was forbidden as well. Litleo, on the other hand, was often used for its skin. While there wasn't an outright ban on catching one, pretty much only the trainers were allowed to do that. You could potentially acquire it as a pet, but you'd have to pay a significant amount of money to gain a permit since it was a fire type, and you'd have to prove you weren't getting it in order to skin it alive. Nevertheless, Teo concluded these guys were poachers coming back from a trip to Kalos, and it would be for the best if he could get lost. These guys weren't some random backstreet punks who somehow got their hands on some pokemon. And one of them had a Machoke, something Teo had no real means of dealing with. He could basically imagine Totodile getting slammed to the ground mid Aqua Jet.
He carefully watched the men, looking for a chance to run away. He'd start running right then and there, but he had no idea what other pokemon they had on their hands. The group stood around, as if they were waiting for something to happen. It was surprising, that they kept these pokemon out in the open, caged up like that. Weren't pokeballs much more efficent? And they would be impossible to spot. Teo concluded these guys just didn't have any means of getting them. Probably, they were blacklisted, and couldn't enter any regular store for fear of being recognised. And pokeballs were one of the rarest items on the black market, which was a surprise at first, but it made perfect sense at second glance. Well, Teo had it explained by some guy a year ago, when he was trying to acquire one from him. The point was, he had told him, the pokeballs couldn't be sold for a high amount of money, the most people would go for was 700pd, and that only went for really desparate customers.
Roar of an engine had him turning his head. The white van came to a full stop few meters away from the boy. Paralysed, Teo watched the doors open and another guy jump out of the drivers seat, yelling. "Hey, morons, what the fuck is he doing here". In retrospect, he should've seen this coming.
Thinking in a rush, he moved away from the metal beam. Running away would be risky. He walks out, his hands raised in the air. Time to lie his way out of this one.
The guy from the van was the first to reach him, quickly taking hold of his arm, bending it backwards. Teo does his best not to flinch, but his face twists into a grimace. The Machop guy comes towards them as well.
"Are you fucking blind?", the van guy yells out, "did you not see a whole ass kid out here?".
"Well he was hiding", the other guy says halplessly, "anyways, we've got him now".
"I wasn't hiding", Teo tries making his voice as high pitched as possible, "I mean I was, but I didn't want to".
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"What the hell are you even doing here kid", the van guy scoffs.
"Um, I came to a school trip, and everyone kind of blew me off, so I didn't know where else to go", Teo decides to hide the fact he's a trainer, "I should get going anyways, they'll be looking for me". That's the best he could do right now, if they know he's here as a part of a group, they will be more likely to leave him the hell alone.
"Alright", the van guy sighs, producing a pokeball from his belt. "Bind him, Carnivine". The giant fly-trap pokemon comes out, immediately wrapping its vines around Teo. He shows off his uncomfort freely, he wants them to know he's not a threat.
"What now?", the Machoke trainer asks.
"We'll bring him onto the ship and those two will watch him until we finish the delivery", the second man responds.
"Then we let him go?", the first guy says.
"We'll see, I mean, he's already seen us", the van guy says simply, "maybe we just throw him into the river if things go wrong".
"But they'll be looking for him", the Machoke guy points out.
"We'll make it seem like an accident, they'll think he fell in on his own", the van guy shrugs, "I mean, he doesn't exactly look innocent".
"Roger that", the first guy nods, moving away to let Carnivine float Teo towards the train.
The men are quick to bring him onto the ship, where he sees a few more cages. Most are empty, except two that are housing a Noibat and an Espurr. Teo was not sure why anyone would have to aquire a Noibat illegally, but Espurr was surely meant to become either a pet or a pair of gloves. As soon as Carnivine lets go of him the men take over, tying him to the central metal beam. He makes sure his left hand has some levay, keeping it just a bit lower. As they let go of him, he quickly brushes over his pocket to see if he can reach it. Making sure he has enough freedom to do that, he feels slight relief. Both of his pokeballs are there. Since they are thinking about chucking him into the river, its good he has acces to them. And it's good they don't know he's a trainer. There were 4 of them still, so he wouldn't be doing anything right now. As soon as two of them leave, he'll be aiming for a chance to do escape.
Unless he can escape by other means, that is. "Um, hey, could you just let me go, please", the boy makes sure his voice is shivering, "I won't tell anyone about this". And he meant it. It was none of his business, he truly didn't want to get involved.
"Quiet down kid, we're no fools", the van guy doesn't even pay any attention to him as he recalls his Carnivine and steps away. "Lenny, let's go, we need to be quick", he gestures for the Machoke guy to follow him. "The two of you guard the sheep, and keep an eye on the kid", he gives instructions, "if he gives you any trouble, tie him and throw him into the river, but don't let him go before we return".
"Alright", one of the guys says firmly. Well, no way for him to get out of here without fighting. Teo hates to admit it, but he is terrified. Even worse, for a brief second, he wishes Joe was there with him. Not that he was particularly fond of the idea of being tied to a ship's beam with his teammate, but the boy had proven quite useful in these kinds of situations back in Lilicove. Besides, he had that Riolu of his. Then he remembered Ves had a Houndour, who could simply burn his captors alive. All Teo had were a Totodile who liked to Aqua Jet and an Absol that didn't like anything or anyone. How did he even plan on getting out of there? Totodile probably couldn't Scratch the ropes the men used to tie him, if it even agreed to try using Scratch. He'd definitely have to let Absol loose and see what happens.
His eyes fly to the two pokemon that were caged up on the ship. They were in a similar postition to him, so maybe they'd be up to offer a helping hand. Becoming a saviour wasn't a part of his plan, but getting some more fire power would be beneficial. At worst, they could cause some chaos. Espurr was supposed to be on the blacklist because of its psychic powers. It often caused problems for people in the city, oftentimes causing permenant brain damage. It wasn't a naturally violent pokemon, but it didn't have a handle on its powers, so those attacks were accidents. Many people thought it was cute though and wanted to keep it as a pet, so it was often a target of poachers. Others liked its fur, and that was the second reason that made it sought after. From what Teo could tell from that distance, this Espurr was a good specimen. Truthfully, the only thing Teo knew about the species was that their ears served as sort of a controler to their psychic powers, and this little one had pretty big ears. Teo shivered for a moment, looking at pokemon's eyes. They were huge, soft shade of purple, but they looked devoid of a soul. For a second, the small creature reminded him of Joe.
As the van guy and Lenny leave, Teo's left alone with the two guys. He decides to gove diplomacy another try. "Hey, really, you could just let me go, I promise not to tell anyone about this, I won't even mention it".
"No use kid, the boss said what he said", one of them waves him off.
"For real, I promise I won't go to the police", Teo attempts, "and my classmates don't exactly like me, so I won't be telling them anyways".
"Good, then they won't miss you if you end up at the bottom of the river", the second guy says.
Teo sighs, reaching into his pocket, picking just one of them. He really hopes he took Absol's. Totodile's really not that threatening in a situation like that. He grips to the ball for a moment, holding his breath. Now's as good of a time to do this as it would ever be. He could wait for the two of them to wonder away to somewhere, but if they don't, then he'd just be bying time for the other to to return.
Gritting his teeth, he presses the button. Following a flash of blue light that catches his captors's attention, Absol appears. A mixture of fear and relief rushes through Teo as the white-furred dog lets out a roar at the two men. He has no time to focus on it.
"The fuck is that", one of the man yells out quickly readying his pokeball. Teo switly pulls out Totodile's pokeball and, making sure he aims the release above his kidnappers, he presses the button.
"Aqua Jet, now Tots", he says, as another flash of blue reaches up. Absol's still growling at the men as Totodile appears above them. The croc pokemon envelops itself with water, descending upon one of the guys. Absol rushes in towards the other one as well, much to Teo's surprise. Quick Attack, he realises.
The first guy manages to dodge the Aqua Jet in time, but stumbles back, dropping his pokeball in the process. Exactly what Teo was hopimg for. The second one, however, is much faster to release his pokemon. "Sucker Punch", he yells out, as a round-shaped sinister pokemon appears before him.
Gengar reacts quickly, cutting Absol's attack short, throwing the disaster dog to the side. "Aqua Jet, Tots", Teo reacts quickly, and Totodile launches itself into the ghost type. "Double Team, Absol, please", the boy says hopefully. Totodile can't take on Gengar alone, and he knows it. He needs Absol.
Teo's not sure why, but the disaster pokemon decides to listen, creating a clone of himself. "Knock Off, now", the boy takes a chance, seeing as Gengar dodges the Aqua Jet from Totodile.
"Gengar, Sucker Punch", the guy yells out. Delightfully, the ghost type misses, getting thrown back by Absol's attack in the process.
"Again, Absol, keep it going", Teo says excitedly. He can't believe his partner's actually listening to him. Absol, instead of attacking, creates another clone. Right, Teo thinks. Absol has a mind of his own. He's not listening, the first two actions just happened to match Teo's wishes.
He turns his attention to the Totodile instead, as he tries desperately to shake himslef free from the ropes. He sees the second guy reaching for the pokeball that has rolled away, but Totodile's already there, with his choice specks on, he picks up the device with his leg and starts kicking it up. Teo almost laughs at the image. As the other guy approaches his pokemon though, the boy yells out: "Tots, kick it into the water". Totodile takes one glance at him and does as he's told. Teo makes a mental note to get a soccer ball for the small croc. "Now, get away, help Absol out", Teo urges, as he sees his partner is still fighting Gengar. They seem to be on equal footing, but Abosl's already lost one of the clones, so it's only a matter of time before that changes.
Totodile envelops himslef in water again and swiftly Aqua Jets towards Teo. The boy straigtens in surprise, as the crock pokemon passes by him, shredding the ropes that were tying him. He must've used the spikes on his back, Teo thinks. If he survives this he swears he'll get a big treat for the small croc.
"Great, now help Absol", Teo yells as he gets up on his feet. Totodile obliges quickly, but Teo has no time to look that way. Instead, he runs towards the cages. He notices the bunch of keys laid down, swiftly picking them up. Running up to Espurr's cage, he starts shuffling through them. He tries a few, but most of them won't even get into the lock. Hastily, he turns around to see Absol and Totodile are both fighting Gengar now, while its trainer is giving instructions. There's no need for Teo to focus on that, neither Absol nor Totodile will listen anyways. The second guy though is running towards where Teo is. The boy tries speeding up the process.
One of the keys finally goes in. The boy unlocks the cage, opening the doors, and the Espurr clumsily jumps out. The man reaches him, grabbing at his shoulders, pulling him backwards. Teo reacts quickly, elbowing him, then turning around to land a croche. It's not like they were friends, he's not pulling any punches. The man stumbles back in surprise, recovering quickly, but before he can reach for the boy again, Espurr jumps up, landing a Scratch at its kidnapper. Guess the small pokemon's a vengeful type, because it attacks the second time immediately.
Teo's thankfull for it, as it gives him the opening to let Noibat out as well. He starts the game of looking for the right key again, as the tiny bat pokemon is excitedly flying around in its cage. It takes him a bit, but he finally finds the right key, releasing Noibat as well. Much to his dismay, the small bat pokemon ends up taking the opportunity to simply fly away. Ungrateful bastard, Teo thinks. He should've left it in the cage. He remembers suddenly why Noibats were sought after. People used them to make soup. He wishes such a fate on the cowardly bat.
Espurr's still scratching away at the poacher, and Teo has much more respect for the psychotic ball of fur. The only thing he's not sure about is why it isn't using any psychic attacks.
Turning his attention back to his own pokemon, he's just in time to see a Shadow Ball hitting his Totodile in the midst of yet another Aqua Jet. Teo reacts, taking a pokeball and recalling the croc before he hits the ground. He was free now, there was no sense in staying on this ship for longer than he had to. Especially since Absol hasn't eaten the whole day, and was quickly running out of the steam.
He reaches towards the metal plate, ready to leave, but a stinge of guilt makes him turn around. If he leaves Espurr here, it will just end up in the cage again. With a newfound courage, he plants a kick on the guy who's still getting attacked by the psychic type. Putting all of his force into it, he manages to knock him to the ground. Quickly grabbing Espurr, who was in the middle of yet another scratch, he produces an empty pokeball from his pocket, making it bigger and bumping it against pokemon's head. He can't exactly carry a wild Espurr around Canalave, and he's not leaving it with these guys.
As he runs towards the edge of the ship, he feels the ball trying to jiggle in his hand. It calms down suddenly, and Teo's sure the catch was his. Showing it into his pocket, he draws Absol's pokeball. As soon as he gets to the metal plate, he turns around. He sees the guy he's kicked is running towards him again. That doesn't matter now. Recalling his partner, Teo runs for his life.
As he hits the ground, a Shadow Ball hits right in front of him. He doesn't turn around. That would only slow him down, instead he holds on firmly to Absol's pokeball. Best case scenario, they won't leave the ship. Worst case scenario, he'll have to rely on Absol to beat Gengar somehow. Remembering the Heal Capsules Joe gave him, he realises Totodile might be able to Aqua Jet once more. He doesn't want this to come down to that, thiugh, so he just keeps running.
His heart pounding, the boy can barely feel his legs. Running in the open, he opts to switching his direction a few times. He counts three Shadow Ball explosions behind him. Then there aren't any for a bit. He hopes that means he managed to escape, but he still doesn't turn around.
Although, at first he really didn't want to do that, he decided he'd be going to the police. These guys deserved it. Besides, he had to explain how he had managed to find an Espurr in Sinnoh somehow. Not that he planned to keep it for himself. No, he knew exactly who the Espurr is going to.
With all of that in mind, Teo kept running towards the city, not stopping even after he had passed the storage rooms.