"Breaking news: Local Petalburg city resident attacked by feral Mightyena at 9:37 this morning. Reporters tell us the before mentioned Pokemon was owned by a man named Gerald Woods, who before the attack was reportedly stopping by the local supermarket for a max repel. Little did he know his Pokemon had probably been aggravated from lack of food, and promptly dove for another customer upon entering the store."
"Marnie Hills, a 15 year old resident of the area, was firmly bitten on the calves 5 times while also being clawed in the eye once until the Pokemon was subdued by passerby David Fern's Primeape. Marnie was immediately taken into the nearby Pokemon center for stitches. The establishment in question has recently confirmed Marnie will most likely lose all eyesight in her left eye, and will also have to have her right leg amputated due to extreme bone mutilation."
"Gerald has stated his Mightyena had shown some signs of aggression as of late, but never enough to actually harm any human. He's also said he was oblivious to how hungry his Pokemon had been at the time, and was just about to get it some food. The Pokemon has been locked inside it's ball, which it has tried to escape multiple times, and taken in for special psychiatric care at Dewford."
"Marnie's family has been devastated and already threatening to sue Gerald for mishandling a clearly irritated Pokemon. Gerald tells us whatever charges will be pressed against him he won't be able to pay off. He works for a crate transportation company which doesn't pay much above minimum wage. At this new situation Gerald fears complete bankruptcy, pleading the fact his Pokemon was the only one acting out of line."
"Whatever happens here in Petalburg over the next week will result in tragic circumstances for all people involved. Back to you Jerry."
"Thanks Cindy, our next story comes from a household in northern-"
Lucas swiftly shut the television off, now puzzledly standing there next to the appliance deep in his own head. When he had heard a news story all the way from Hoenn would be broadcast over to Kalos that night, the teen had been a bit eager to watch it. Usually if a story was reported outside its region it was pretty big on its own. He had expected something like a new Pokeball innovation, since those were growing in numbers recently. But what he had gotten instead was not at all expected. All he could do after it was stand there in his white tee and black jeans with his signature cap resting on his head, processing the story.
The boy himself had started his own journey to become Sinnoh's next champion around 7 years ago. Now, he was 17; and never in his life had he ever heard of a Pokemon hurting a person so substantially. In fact, he'd never really heard of anything like that happening at all. Maybe the occasional fireblast to the arm or an accidental leg bite, but never anything as bad as the images of Marnie Hills' bloody, battered body laying in agony on the Pokemon center beds. He felt the need to call his other acquaintances about this, but he figured they had already heard about it to some extent.
He wasn't stupid. Lucas knew this entire story would be blown out of the water, taking over the internet for about a month and sparking so so much debate. But now, he was just concerned on what people would be debating over. To his utter dismay, it would probably regard the free ownership of Pokemon.
Collecting the rest of his newfound thoughts, he was just about to cross back into the kitchen for a nice, soothing drink when he heard the front door click open.
Ironically, the person who entered the household was Hoenn's own Pokemon champion himself, Brendan. As per usual, the guy had a prominent scowl on his face as he dropped his bag onto the ground and strode into the kitchen. Sensing this had something to do with the recent news, Lucas reluctantly followed him and stopped right under the kitchen doorway.
"...So," Lucas' eyes flicked back to the television nervously as Brendan entered, "did you, uh, did you by chance hear about that Hoenn story yet?"
Brendan flopped into a wooden chair adjacent to the dining table and narrowed his eyes back at Lucas. Like always, he refused to take off his strange white cap which concealed nearly all his hair, and was still sporting his red jacket when it was much too hot for it.
"Uh- Yeah, dumbass. Nobody will shut up about it downtown, especially when I'm around. I also keep getting calls from May of all people which is peachy," he seethed, pulling out his black and red-cased phone, while also turning his full attention to it.
Lucas, immediately losing his high-strung behavior, tiredly rolled his eyes and grimaced back at the other teen while leaning against the doorway. "Look, it's not my fault you look like you have a stick up your ass every minute you're alive."
At this Brendan turned his head up and shot him a death glare, proceeding to look back at his phone in annoyance. Lucas huffed in frustration, not about to let Brendan ignore this like the guy usually did.
"Well, your dad lives in Petalburg. Maybe you should go visit him tomorrow. People are really freaked out y'know, especially down there," he suggested with a hint of spite in his voice.
Brendan didn't look back up at Lucas, or even bother to respond for a minute. In this short amount of time Lucas had begun to note how stuffy the air had gotten. This, combined with the unbearable subtle smell of garlic that wafted around the kitchen and heated air, made him feel a bit nauseous. While waiting for Brendan's usual half-assed response he roamed over to the nearby window and lazily pulled it open.
"I am. Thinking of just riding Salamence over there; should only take a couple hours," he finally heard Brendan mutter from across the room.
Lucas let out a embarrassingly weak "oh" and averted his gaze out over Lumiose City. It was just around 6 months ago he had agreed to move into an admittedly spacious apartment with 7 other Pokemon world champions, of whom he couldn't say were the most tolerable bunch of people. But Brendan was one of the worst offenses of the lot who managed to constantly get on Lucas' nerves.
Though, most of what made Lucas unfortunately aggravated was made up for by the sheer force of this city and its region. It almost made sense to him now why Callum was so flashy. Sinnoh, where he came from, was in contrast a more quiet region of sorts. Living in an apartment looming over one of the most spectacular cities in the world was so new to him, but he enjoyed it for what it was.
`Convincing himself to stop ogling over the sight he could get a glimpse of any other night, Lucas rotated his body around towards Brandan. The previously mentioned was still staring at his phone warily, now slightly hunched over the screen.
"Were any of the others with you downtown?" Lucas blurted while motioning his hands, breaking the tense silence Brendan seemed to be more so enjoying over conversing with his roomate.
As expected, Brendan's brow furrowed. "Uh, Red and Nate were for a lil' bit. I ditched em' after we watched the news story though," he answered.
As the cool air Lucas was so used to started flowing into the room, he vividly started picturing that situation in his head. Brendan gaping at the story as the three stood shoulder to shoulder outside among a crowd, in front of some television displayed for sale. After the broadcast wrapped up, Brendan would utter something vulgar under his breath and turn his heel, leaving a "too astonished to notice" Nate and an innocently confused Red behind in the dust.
At this Lucas mentally sighed to himself. "You know they're all gonna start talking about it once they get back, right?" he warned Brendan, as if to get more out of him.
"Yeah, that's why I'm staying in my room tonight so I can avoid that dumbass shit," Brendan retorted, getting up out of the chair while thankfully pocketing his phone.
Lucas wanted to say something, this want only being diminished by the fact he knew Brendan wasn't going to take him seriously unless Lucas insulted him straight to his face. He warily eyed Brendan as the boy opened a top cupboard and pulled out a bag of off-brand tortilla chips. Still skeptical, Lucas moved out of the doorway and into the living room as Brendan trudged out of the area and started towards his room.
The only thing Lucas could hear after a door slam was now the gusts of wind wistfully finding their way into the apartment. Maybe he was making this out to be a larger ordeal than he initially thought. But he still resented what was he worried about in the first place. First of all, even though he still held complete faith in his Pokemon, would other people? No, he thought, that couldn't possibly result in anything. But the back of his calculating mind was saying otherwise and he hated it.
Lucas, out of his group, while being the most responsible by far, was more prone to worrying about things that didn't really matter in the long run. Lucas prayed, as usual, it was just his anxious nature and nothing else.
Regardless, this was gonna be an interesting week.
I don't know how consistently the upload schedule is, but I do want to finish this story whatever happens. Thanks for reading, any like or comment is appreciated :)
Important note: THIS STORY IS BY NO MEANS TRYING TO SPREAD ANY POLITICAL AGENDA THAT PARALLELS TO THE REAL WORLD. IT'S SIMPLY A LOOK INTO HOW POLITICS WOULD WORK IN THIS SPECIFIC UNIVERSE.