Chapter 2 - Mission Machop

“The thief was small and grey. A Machop, I think... it took some shopping bags with food, Pokéballs…”

Vermilion City's Police Department (or VCPD) for short, had many stations, as most big cities did, yet Celeste was sure she ended up on the worse one possible. She went to the one that was close to the Wharf, for convenience more than anything else, but soon regretted her decision when she realised how small and understaffed that place was. It was so small, in fact, that she had to circle the block three times to notice the blue revolving door discreetly tucked in between some old buildings.

Inside, the officer on duty was writing some words down in a form, not looking particularly thrilled by the story she was hearing. Her hair, marine green and somewhat messy, fell on her face, but she did not bother brushing it away.

“Officer…?” Celeste probed, watching her add some last details to the report.

There was no name-tag in her uniform, but anyone in the world could easily tell this woman's family name was Jenny—strong genes and an affinity for police work, was the general explanation to why they all looked so similar. Though considering this one, Celeste wondered if it was affinity or family pressure that had informed her career path.

“So,” Jenny tapped her pen on her head, “crimes like that… they are tricky. Are you sure it was a Pokémon?”

Celeste looked at the paper standing between them and at a magazine sloppily thrown in the reception desk—Diantha was in the cover and the question ‘What’s Next for the Teen Star?’ was splattered over her picture. A much nicer read than the police report, no doubt.

She clutched her hand, which was still throbbing, and wondered if it she'd broke something. “I don’t think many small kids can do karate moves that well.”

“You’d be surprised.” Jenny raised her eyebrows. “Anyway, if you are sure it was a… Machop…. we’ll look into it. Don’t get your hopes up, though.”

“But—”

“It’s not that I don’t want to help,” Jenny sat back and smiled unconvincingly. “It’s just that the Gym is supposed to deal with most Pokémon related issues… though not crimes... This probably falls in that sweet spot where neither one of us is completely in charge.”

Pursing her lips, and not fully believing the woman before her, Celeste turned to the Eevee perched on her shoulders for support. Then she took a deep breath and tried again. “Is there anything I can do?” she asked.

Jenny's smile spread. “Maybe you or someone who’d been around saw something that sat that Machop apart?”

She hadn't… and she'd already told Jenny the Pokémon came out of nowhere, and ran away fast. There was no time to take a good look. But, as the officer lazily swayed her chair, Celeste offered, “Should I… ask around?”

“Would you?” The policewoman leaned forward, still tapping her pen on her head. “That would be really helpful!”

Aria's scoff on Celeste's shoulders was loud. The lazy officer wasn’t even fooling the Eevee.

“I guess…” Celeste said, flexing her fingers into a fist. This certainly beat sitting in her Pokémon Centre room skulking about how it was her first day, and it already ended in disaster. “Yeah, sure,” she repeated, more confident.

It was a just a Machop, for Arceus sake, and she was a trainer now. She could get her stuff back by herself. She was much better than some lazy police officer.

“I can do it,” Celeste nodded again, and was met with words of encouragement from the officer. The magazine was already back in Jenny's hands and she was, as sneakily as she bothered to be, rushing Celeste to go and figure this out.

Was all the police in Kanto going to be this unhelpful?

Before she knew it, Celeste was outside the station, with her chest puffed and… many doubts.

“Can we do it?” she looked at Aria, who barked much less encouragingly than Jenny.

Asking people questions… That seemed easy enough, even if she doubted it would be helpful.

Her eyes flung to Aria again, more worried, and she clutched her hand closer again. It probably wasn't broken… she'd know if it was. There'd be more swelling…

But…

What if it was broken? Should she go to a hospital? Did Pokémon Centres treat human injuries? And what if she never got her stuff back…?

She imagined calling her parents. “Hey Honey how was your fist day?” her mother would ask and to that she would answer, “Amazing. I used half the money you gave me to buy camping gear and way more Potions and Antidotes than I needed. Then I let a Machop rob me and I told a Police Officer I would solve the case in her place.”

Yeah… maybe she’d skip on calling her parents for now.

Looking to steer her thoughts away from trouble, Celeste rested her eyes on the street ahead of her. Cars were queuing up as the traffic lights turned red. There was a little Squirtle happily taking in the ocean breeze from the passenger sit of car and making bubbles with his mouth. It was the cutest thing.

Bubble, bubble—burst. Celeste let herself fall into a trance with the distraction until Aria nudged her face.

The Eevee took one glance at the Squirtle and scoffed.

“Think you can do better?” Celeste nudged Aria back.

Her Pokémon climbed off her shoulders and puffed her chest with all her might. She let out a bark—or was it a battle cry?—and from her mouth, no bubbles came to be, but stars.

Celeste widened her eyes. “When did you learn to do that?”

Aria twitched her ears and let her eyelids drop as she held her nose high.

“Not telling, huh?”

The Pokémon answered with another few stars and Celeste squatted closer to examine the move. The stars were fast and sharp. If she recalled correctly, this was a move people called Swift.

“Seems like you’ve already had some practice,” she scratched Aria in her favourite spot, right beneath the ear. “Was it back in the mountain in Alola that you’ve learned this?”

With another bark, Aria tried to play coy—or more likely, ask for praise.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re very naturally talented,” Celeste scooped her up with the good hand and let out a giggle. “You know what?” she said, grinning. “You and me… and of course, Powder, too. I think we can do anything together. We'll figure this out.”

—*——*—

It was the next morning when Celeste returned to the wharf, hoping to get some information on the Machop. Some pattern or detail that could help the police, or most likely, herself.

She didn't expect much, to be honest, but the day was already starting much better than the previous one.

“So you’ve seen it?” Celeste asked a man in a gift shop. She absentmindedly watched Aria play with keychains on a stand: Raichu, Voltorb, Magnemite… Jolteon—the city seemed proud of their electric types.

“Yep,” the man muttered, cleaning some glass on the counter. “Everyone ‘round here has. It’s your run-off-the-mill old Machop, I don’t recall nothing striking ‘bout it. Except for the stealing, that is.”

Aria tumbled a few keychains down and jumped back, almost to the edge of the countertop. Her trainer gave her one meaningful look, doing her best to convey the words ‘behave’ before turning back to the shopkeeper.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“How come everyone here knows about it, but the police does nothing?” Celeste asked, making man before her scoff.

“Police here don’t care for us much,” he said. “They pretend they don’t even know there's a problem or, when they admit there is one, it’s either too small for them to care or Gym jurisdiction.”

“…won’t the Gym leader help then?” she asked, noticing her Eevee approaching the keychains again.

“The leader has a million other problems to deal with,” the clerk pushed the keychain rack back and away from Aria, eyes lingering on the Raichu. “This city is a mess, and ‘sides the battles, he’s overseeing the opening of this new Power Plant in a couple months. I reckon no one there has time or the head to care for a lil’ Machop stealing medicine and food.”

Celeste picked Aria from the table before she tried to actually attack the keychain with the Jolteon tauntingly dangling in the front.

“Medicine and food, huh?” she muttered to herself, an idea forming in her head.

The rest of the morning passed pretty much the same way, with Celeste asking other people in the area about the Fighting-Type that terrorised them. Though no one said anything too different from the gift shop clerk.

Those that worked or often passed by the Wharf saw the Machop frequently. It would target distracted people with food or anything that looked like a Potion. Its preferred time of attacking was late afternoon or early night, and it hardly ever hurt others or actively engaged in combat. Celeste also tried to get information about where it came from, but came out empty on that.

At some point in the afternoon, she told Aria they needed to be more active in their investigation. So the duo found an empty alleyway, that, despite having some Rattata scouring rubbish bins, seemed relatively safe.

“I think I have a plan,” Celeste smiled at the Eevee, grabbing the Premier Ball from her pocket. “But we'll need Powder. Think our baby is ready?”

Aria scoffed.

“Come on, you know my plans are great,” Celeste insisted and, with a purposefully exaggerated pout, pressed the release button of her ball.

The red beam of light that appeared revealed Powder—the Vulpix she'd adopted in Alola not that long ago. Her white fur, pristine like freshly fallen snow, contrasted to the dirty alleyway, and the little puffs in her head, curly and soft, seemed to move together with her equally curly tails.

Powder looked from Celeste to the strange place she was in with her big blue and purplish eyes and blinked. Her little, shrill voice echoed with a cute “Pix” as she tilted her head.

“Hey, little Powder,” the trainer said, making her voice soft.

When she approached, the young Ice-Type let out a more excited cry. Her Pokémon had hatched merely two months ago, and watching her grow (way quicker than she had any right to) was one of Celeste's great joys in the past few weeks. The Vulpix was still finding her voice, but little by little she was learning to be more assertive about things she wanted.

“Do you think you can help me and Aria out on a very important mission?” Celeste asked, still soft.

Somehow, in her Pokémon’s eyes, she could see the relentless snow of Mount Lanakila, where they first met, but also the pretty Northen Lights that danced in the skies of distance lands.

It was hypnotising.

The Vulpix tilted her head, confused, but also eager.

“This is it,” Celeste paused for a moment, grinning. “This is our first mission together. That's our moment to shine. Get ready for Mission Machop!”

—*——*—

With the two Pokémon sitting in front of her, Celeste was sprawled out on the ground, drawing something with a piece of chalk she'd found.

She bit her tongue, making finishing touches and… “Ta-dah,” she sprung up, proudly.

On the floor, there were four scenes divided by a cross. Sticky figures, which Celeste thought looked great but Aria and Powder clearly strained to understand, represented the different stages of the plan.

“Okay, you two. Mission Machop is simple,” Celeste began, pointing to the fist drawing: a small figure with sharp evil-looking fangs standing on top of a few shopping bags. “Our goal is to find Machop, a super evil Pokémon that’s been stealing stuff from the Vermilians…? Uh… Vermites?”

Powder blinked, and Aria was holding on to her laughter.

Celeste pointed to the Machop in her drawing again. “Either way. I know you've never seen one of them Powder, but they are… like people. They stand on two legs and have two arms. They're just… greyer, and shorter and bulkier... a lot bulkier. Oh—” She put a hand over her head. “And they have these little… thingies. Little hair stripes, but solid.”

The Vulpix seemed even more confused at the explanation.

“Right, it… doesn't matter much…”

Aria let her laugh escape, making Celeste grumble in response. There might've been some… artistic liberties here and there, but her drawing was okay.

“Anyway,” she said forcefully, glaring at her Eevee. She pointed to the second part, where she’d drawn a four-legged Pokémon with puffs on the head (to Celeste, obviously her icy Vulpix) standing in front of a rice cake. “We'll get some more food. Then, around sunset, Powder, who we know Machop hasn’t seen before, will go around in the wharf with it.”

The little Vulpix leaned in when Celeste mentioned the sticky figure was supposed to represent her. She sniffed the chalk and sneezed, quickly deciding she did not like it—not the plan, not the chalk drawing, and not the alleyway. Or at least that’s what her trainer thought she was trying to convey with her big aurora like eyes staring widened.

“It will be okay,” Celeste reassured, running her hands over her Pokémon’s hair puffs and inviting her to sit on her arms as she moved on to the third panel.

It was supposed to represent her and her Eevee taking care of the Vulpix while they followed the Machop.

“I know it sounds bad that I’m asking you to be the bait, but Aria and me, we will always be nearby and ready to leap into action.” She gently squeezed her young Pokémon. “And the moment Machop is close, you just drop the bag and come back to us. We’ll follow it and recover all the stolen items.”

With a little bark and some cold licks on her fingers, Powder gestured to the last panel. There were lots of sticky figures drawn in a circle around them.

Celeste grinned. “That’s the celebration. We'll give all the stolen stuff back to the people of the Wharf and everyone will be super happy they'll make us a party.”

At that, Aria scoffed. Again.

“You are impossible, you know?” Celeste nuzzled her head against Powder and stuck out her tongue to her Eevee. Aria, of course, stuck her tongue right back at her trainer.

And then… they all burst into laughter.

“What do you guys say?” Celeste asked, finally. “Are we go for Mission Machop?”

—*——*—

Powder clung tightly to the little paper bag of rice cakes. Her eyes were a little scared, but her jaw was firm on the bag’s stripes. Aria patted her on the back and barked a long “Vee” that sounded encouraging. Celeste followed up with a smile.

“Are you ready?” she asked, and when her Pokémon nodded, Celeste and Aria hid behind some crates.

It was around 6pm then, and the sunset was actually beautiful this time. Orange light emerging from within the clouds cast long shadows around the Vulpix who strolled around as if she was waiting for someone. The shopping bag dangled back and forth from her mouth.

Their plan was finally in motion.

Or so they thought.

An hour passed, and nothing happened.

Then another. The people watching the sunset or going to some of the restaurants that dotted the wharf left and the sounds of waves crashing on the seawalls became more prevalent than the voices of people and their Pokémon.

Worry was creeping in. Should they give up? Try another day? Knock on the Gym and demand help?

Another hour, and a scare with a Murkrow, later and still no sign of the thief.

Celeste was hungry and tired, and her hand still throbbed. Her Pokémon were probably hungry and tired too. The only good news was that by now, after seeing Aria shoo the Murkrow with her Swift, Powder was looking braver. She didn’t rigid her body anymore, and was strolling with confidence—she’d keep at the task for as long as was needed.

“Hey, Aria. Maybe we should call it—”

There was a sudden creak. Footsteps, quick and light, echoed, somehow becoming louder in the quiet of the night. A form blurred past Powder, yelling a familiar cry of action.

“Chop.”

Celeste wondered why the hell did the Machop announced itself so loudly. She didn’t wonder for long, though. When her baby Vulpix let out a cry of her own, the trainer and the Eevee didn’t hesitate to jump in.

Powder had dropped the bag to the ground before the Fighting-Type even got to her and took some hesitant steps back. When Celeste scooped her off the ground, her assailant was already gaining distance.

Tiredness, hunger and fear were gone in a moment. Now it was time to stalk. Discretely, they began following the Machop back to its evil lair.

—*——*—

Northeast from the wharf, and away from the clumps of buildings that lit up the horizon, was a construction site. Or so Celeste guessed. Clouds hung low in the dark night sky and not a light pole graced them with its presence. The dim glow coming from a small shed and the darkened silhouettes of cranes was all they had to go by. Still, it was enough.

Machop’s rushed footsteps led it to the shed, and for a moment, before it got inside, its muscly grey body flexed and head swayed around, checking the surroundings.

It didn’t spot Celeste or her Pokémon.

“I think we can go in,” she whispered, carefully placing Powder down and feeling the ground ahead. Boulders and smaller rocks made uneven footing, but getting to the shed was easy enough.

They all stopped by the door, and Celeste smiled.

“Three against a little Machop. I like our odds.” Her voice was as quiet as she could make it. She carefully placed a hand on the door handle. Maybe Aria would be able to beat it, but… she didn’t have all that experience. Together they could all jump in and surprise the thief. “On three, we go in.”

Her sweaty palms twisted the doorknob.

“One… Two…”

Her Pokémon seemed ready. An adventure… all of her own. Was she excited or scared? Celeste didn’t know, but her heart beat really fast.

“Three!”

She flung the door open with all her weight and stumbled in. Aria darted from behind with a Quick Attack and hit the Machop before it could even turn around. The Vulpix seemed a bit more confused and only moved when Celeste began to charge in. They both joined Aria on top of their foe—a much harder task than she expected.

Machop flailed around and squirmed away, but Aria angled a Swift towards its head, hurling to the back and away from them. She didn’t knock out the fighting Pokémon, but it was down on the ground, rubbing the wound.

Victory!

“I’d stay back if I were you!” Celeste was all bravado. Still on the floor, she puffed her chest, feeling way too good about her plan. Her eyes slowly leaving the Machop in search of the stolen items.

And that was when she realised it.

Her brilliant plan of barging in headfirst had a tiny little hole. A small thing she failed to consider—but who would, really?

Celeste slid back.

What she didn’t thought of, was that Machop might have friends.

And guess what?

One of its friends was an angry Golem charging right at her.