Chapter 9:
Attack
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Remember what I said about Pokémon battles being glorified dog fights?
I hereby retract my statement because Pokémon battles are fucking awesome.
The moment Hylla declared Chelsea and I won, I understood why the people in this world were obsessed with Pokémon battles.
I felt adrenaline rush through my body and in the name of Arceus did it feel good.
The entire fight it felt like Ralts and I were one, part of one big machine that could only work if all parts were perfectly in sync.
Nothing mattered except the thrill of the fight.
And the moment Hylla declared us victorious?
It felt like getting a perfect speedrun, finding a shiny legendary, winning a tournament after months of practice or beating the final boss of a game after a long battle. All that combined was not even close to the feeling of winning a Pokémon battle.
I could talk about the feeling for days but you get the point.
That moment, I decided that I was going to become the best Pokémon trainer in this world, not for the sake of it but because I wanted to win on the highest stage possible, to get the same feeling as before with a thousand eyes watching me and have the Gods of the Pokémon world watch in awe.
...Oh no, I am developing a God Complex.
And yes, I do realize that beating Melon and Thomas was this world’s equivalent of beating up the Bug catchers at the start of every Pokémon game but remember; even Julius Caesar started his career by claiming his own spot on the couch, I think.
“We won,” Chelsea said bewildered, one look at her told me she had felt the same rush of the battle too.
“Well, it seems you two won.” Thomas let out an embarrassed laugh. He pulled out his Pokémon and called back Starly. “You did great,” he whispered to the Pokéball before shrinking it and putting it away.
Melon followed her brother and Fennekin disappeared in a red light.
Chelsea and I walked towards our two Pokémon who were waiting for us.
Ralts was standing with a smug smile on her face, not a scratch on her. Chimchar for his part was happily bouncing up and down and if I closed my eyes enough I could call it dancing.
Chimchar looked worse, he had slight burn marks from Fennekin’s Ember and his fur was all messed up.
It could have gone a lot worse, if Ralts’ Confusion had been too late or not hit at all, Chimchar would have been out of the fight and Ralts would have to fight two opponents, one which could attack from the air and the other one could attack from the ground.
“Ralts.” Ralts greeted me calmly, folding her tiny arms in front of her chest and striking a pose that said: ‘No problem at all.’
I knelt down, grinning. “Now, who’s da best?”
Ralts tried to keep her badass facade going but failed after 2 seconds. She lunged forward to give me the biggest hug yet all the while squealing her own name repeatedly.
Next to me, Chelsea complimented her own Chimchar.
“This was your first battle?” Melon asked as she walked towards us, “Because that was so awesome!”
Chelsea grinned, “Of course we were awesome, what did you expect?”
I laughed and stood straight, Ralts still clinging to my chest. “You two were doing great too, turning the tables by focusing on Chimchar with both Pokémon. Really smart.”
I placed Ralts and Chelsea copied me.
“Well if you want a rematch anytime soon, we are up for it!” Thomas said as he walked towards us. “But now we have to go home and explain why both our Pokémon are knocked out.”
Both siblings shot us a smile and proceeded to head home.
“Well, well well,” Hylla walked towards us, “you two did quite well.”
She proceeded to give Chelsea a head pat which made Chelsea groan. Hylla shot me a grin, “And you Mister Mysterious, that was quite the daring move. Hitting Chimchar with a Confusion.”
I shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea.”
Hylla proceeded to give me a head pat as well, ruffling my blue hair without even asking. “No need to be shy, that was a genius move.”
She gave the Chimchar sitting on Chelsea’s shoulder a curious look. “And you taught Chimchar Ember without ever battling? Seems like you really took good care of him.”
Chelsea nodded. “Yes, Ember is really hot, so hot it could burn down a small town.”
Sure, why not?
“So the Chimchar was yours?” I asked Hylla.
She nodded. “Yes. I gave it to Chelsea as a gift. Some time ago though, she never really battled with him.”
So it was a male, good guesswork by me.
“How did you get it?” I asked curiously, if she claimed it to be her Starter I would call bullshit on that. No one gets 5 Gym badges with an unevolved Chimchar that only knows two moves...unless she dumped it into the pc and left it to rot, does that option even exist in this world?
“Well, I have some connections.” she answered with a mysterious smile.
Connections with the Sinnoh League by any chance?
“Anyway…” She cut the conversation off. “I got some cake in the fridge for the champions of today. We better start going before it's gone.”
Hylla began walking back to the hospital with a smirk on her face.
That doesn’t make any sense, it's in the fridge any-
“Ralts!” Ralts cried out, panicked and pulled on my hair, urging me to follow.
“You don’t even know how cake tastes.” I tried to argue but Ralts kept panicking.
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“Ralts!” Ralts insisted, Chelsea laughed at us and followed after Hylla.
Ralts pulled another hair lock.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m moving already.” I rolled my eyes. “The cake better not be a lie.”
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One day later a letter arrived for me, along with it came a small package.
The letter was long and boring, giving me legal Sinnoh citizenship and the permission to become a Pokémon trainer and all the other boring stuff. The cool stuff, however, was inside the small cardboard package that came along with it.
It contained a small red-black device that I immediately recognized: A Pokedex.
It was the version they had in the Sinnoh League episodes and it reminded me of a DS but it was way cooler. It had a sleek metallic case and looked very sturdy, yet it barely weighed anything. It did look expensive as hell.
The Pokédex came along with 500 Pokédollars from the Team Rocket bounty which was stored on my personal bank account, which was conveniently connected to my Pokédex.
Like I suspected the Pokédex was used as a Trainer ID, credit card and smartphone Hybrid (it also had some function to scan Pokémon but who cares about that anyway?)
I wanted to use it on Ralts but all the features besides identification and payment were locked and had to be unlocked by Professor Rowan which was a huge dick move from whoever programmed it.
My Pokédex didn’t seem to be sentient but that could come later, if this was the game universe I could try to catch the Rotom at the haunted house in the Eterna Forest.
Not sure if I want a sentient smartphone but we’ll see.
Even though almost all functions of my Pokédex were locked away I couldn’t help but grin, finally, my journey was going somewhere.
I pulled Ralts away from her (failing) game of chess with Chelsea and explained to her that we finally have money. Although the concept of money was strange to her my happiness was infectious.
I told Chelsea I was going out to town. Before she could invite herself I took Ralts on my shoulders to be faster and went to the store that sold everything one would need to start his own Pokémon journey.
I bought some regular clothes that would work great on the road and a set for sport.
I also got a deluxe backpack that had some bullshit going on with folding dimensions and nanotechnology, which allowed it to store more stuff than it should.
I tried to find out how it worked but I couldn’t really find anything, my guess was that it was some lingering effect from a Pokémon move, sadly the store owner didn’t know anything about it.
It did explain how the people in Pokémon could travel the world with nothing more than a backpack.
Next, I bought a camping set which came with a sleeping bag and some kind of electric cooking plate among other things.
It took me most of my money and I still hadn’t bought Pokéballs and Potions but that kind of stuff could come later.
As I was walking through the town I couldn’t help but feel happy. Ralts had picked up on my happy mood and was happily humming a song I didn’t recognize while she sat on my shoulders.
The sun was just touching the horizon when Ralts suddenly pulled on my hair lock, so hard that it actually hurt.
“Ralts Ra Ralts.” Ralts said cheerfully.
My heart froze, yet I kept walking as though nothing happened, I slowed my pace to the point it looked like I was getting tired instead of adjusting it because something was off.
I kept looking in the same direction I was walking but I studied the edges of my vision, looking for something out of place.
‘Ralts Ra Ralts’, long-short long, aka: The morse version of S.O.S. That in combination with Paradoxical behavior meant one thing: someone was spying on us, someone with malevolent intentions.
When Ralts became good enough to detect people in hiding (namely me) I had taught her a 4 step protocol so we wouldn’t let the enemy know we knew.
I first taught her not to freak out and act normal, if someone was potentially sneaking up on us she would give me a subtle sign. Something like pulling my hair, pinch me in the arm or send me a glare, something subtle to show something was wrong, immediately after that she would return to normal behavior and give me a cheerful “Ralts Ra Ralts.” which meant S.O.S.
Ralts knows that I don’t understand Pokéspeak but we both had defined this sequence in combination with all the previous signs as S.O.S. I had wondered what it actually meant in Pokéspeak but I guess it really depends on the context.
If this entire sequence was done within a second, it meant trouble.
I was now on high alert, still, for a bystander nothing would be out of the ordinary, just a trainer talking to his Pokémon.
Despite not knowing telepathy and human speech Ralts was quite smart, I’m not sure if it's due to her species, Psychic typing or just her as an individual.
“So,” I asked, “Have you seen Alex recently?”
‘Alex’, a codeword for trouble.
“Ralts,” she answered.
Yes.
And now the second part of the protocol, locating our hidden friend.
“Oh, and when do you want to see him again?” I asked, feigning surprise. “Next week?”
“Ralts.” Ralts said cheerfully.
‘Next week’, which meant something was in front of us, if Ralts had answered No, it would mean something was behind us.
Next week or last week, simple code for in front of us or behind us.
I had discovered that Ralts had no concept of the days of the week, she had no clear distinction between Monday or Friday which makes sense considering she lived in a forest. I had taken it upon myself to teach her the days of the week.
It had taken me some time to explain why one would name 7 successive days only to start over at day 8. I told her that the weekend was cooler than the weekdays and that seemed to do the trick.
But now it serves a second function too.
“Oh really,” I chuckled, “And when do you want to see Alex again, during the week?”
“Ralts.” Ralts answered with a tone that said No.
“Aaah, on the weekend.” I laughed, “Dunno if Alex has time for us though I should call him to see if he’s up for some training.”
I tugged both my hands in my pocket, in my left pocket was the pocket knife I stole and in my right was Ralts’ Pokéball, both ready to be drawn any moment.
The weekend meant something was on the right side of my vision, being the last part of the cycle.
The message was clear.
SOS, someone in front of us, right side
I casually observed my surroundings, we were walking through a pretty wide alley that would lead us out of the town and towards the hospital, though we were still a good 10 minutes away.
I checked the rooftops on my right side from the corner of my eyes and I spotted something.
Before I could even identify the shape something shot towards me.
I ducked, throwing Ralts off my shoulders in the same moment as something passed over our heads and pinned itself in the wall behind us.
Ralts managed to land safely on her two feet and shot a glare at the rooftop.
Two more black things shot towards us but before they came close Ralts opened her mouth and activated Disarming Voice.
The soundwaves immediately stopped both projectiles and they fell onto the street.
I took a quick look at the fallen projectiles and I recognized it immediately, throwing knives.
I grabbed the nearest one and stood straight, took out Ralts’ Pokéball with my free hand and prepared for battle.
Ralts placed herself in front of me, fist clenched and eyes narrowed
From the rooftops, a figure jumped down and landed at the end of the alley. He was blocking the way to the hospital.
He wore all black clothes but most notoriously was the red R printed on his uniform.
His face was hidden by the shadow of his cap but I could see a wicked smile on his face.
The man reached out to his pocket and pulled out a walkie talkie.
I was about to order Ralts to hit the guy with everything she got but before I could do it the guy wordlessly dropped two Pokéballs and they landed in front of him.
The familiar white flash followed and I silently cursed.
Two different cries came a second later, one I was familiar with.
A Raticate appeared in front of the guy, it let out a screech and revealed a huge set of silver fangs.
However, the second flash brought something worse.
A black fox-like creature with yellow rings on its body appeared and again, I recognized it.
Red eyes met mine and it let out a snarl.
Umbreon, the Dark-type evolution of Eevee.
Dark-type, the perfect counter for Psychic.
The man in front of us took his time as he made his call, perfectly aware of the fact I couldn’t run nor attack him.
“We found the blue-haired brat, he was indeed at Sunbright Hospital. I caught him on his way back.”
He waited for a response when he got one I sadly couldn’t hear.
“Okay,” the man replied, “See you soon and over.”
He lowered his walkie talkie and finally took the time to look at me.
“And now little boy,” his smile managed to get even wider, “It’s time to teach you why you don’t mess with Team Rocket.”