Author's Note: As the title of this may imply, this is an alternate history fanfic of Pokemon: A Marvelous Journey, a retelling of the core Johto games, written by my close friend known as SaoirseParisa here. As she can verify, this was created with her permission and input on scenes involving her original characters, stuff that might be important or affect her world's lore, and anything I was unsure about. I wrote this with intent to be accessible to both readers and nonreaders of the original work. Go read it if you haven't, it actually surprised me, and let doing this - even trying to match its tone to some extent - be a testament to how much I enjoy it. All characters from the fic belong to her, as does Pokemon as a whole belong to the relevant parties.
The Red Gyarados arc was an important one in the original fic, which led to a moment of growth for the main character. But a comment about how a part of it was handled got me thinking of how easily it could've gone wrong. And I've always found how MarJour treats law as an important (if rigid) aspect interesting. Some concepts and thinking later, I came up with a basic plot, which ultimately became the fic you're looking at today.
Originally started 2-3 months ago, rocketed through, slowed to a crawl for the longest time, and finally (essentially) finished in time for her birthday.
Chapter 1: Tragic Outcome
"Beedrill, X-Scissor!"
"Meet it with Slash!"
Two Pokemon were locked in battle in a forest on Route 44. One, a large bee-like creature with massive needles on its arms. The other, a small black and red bipedal creature with sharp implements for hands. A friendly challenge between two trainers. The bee rushed in ready to strike, only to be parried. A clang echoed as the two Pokemon's blades slammed together, each struggling to gain dominance over the other.
"Don't let yourself be beaten here!" the Beedrill's trainer yelled through gritted teeth. Her forceful urging prompted her Pokemon to put more effort into it, wings beating furiously. The girl was clad in a white tank top with well worn jeans sporting a hole in the right knee.
Her opponent simply let out a confident huff. He was in brown cargo shorts and had on short-sleeved black and green outerwear embroidered with a leaf pattern over top a plain white loose-fitting shirt. His opponent hadn't even been hiding how she wanted to end this quickly, but they weren't going down that easy. Abruptly he gave a simple command, "Go!" His Pawniard jumped up and pushed back all in one motion.
"Look out!" the girl screamed, just in time for her Beedrill to fly backwards, avoiding a follow-up Slash. She grasped at her hair, a light tone somewhere between brown and blonde.
The boy smirked, resting his chin on the back of his left hand. "Nice dodge." He hadn't been expecting himself to have whimsically suggest a battle to someone. He was just going sightseeing when he ran into this girl training in the woods. He knew nothing about her and vice versa, she didn't even give her name. But she agreed to his challenge. All for the better, as he'd been taught one of the best ways to get to know a trainer is in battle. And this was a battle he and his Pokemon were both enjoying. "You're pretty good."
"More than you know!" came the retort, as if she had been insulted. "Beedrill, Double Team!" Multiple copies of the bee appeared all over the battlefield.
"Hold," warned the boy, putting his hands out just as his Pawniard was looking to jump on the nearest copy. He knew they had to handle this carefully. They're just illusions, after all. The Sharp Blade Pokemon was restless, but obedient. He for his part watched closely. They just needed to wait for the right moment, and...
"X-Scissor!"
He caught the one that moved first. "There!" he shouted with a point, instantly setting his Pokemon into motion. "Psycho Cut!" Before the trainer could even think to react, the Pawniard started slashing prematurely, producing purple waves that crashed into the Bee Pokemon's form. To the young man and his bladed battler's surprise though, the bug continued to twitch after that vicious attack.
"Come on! Get up!" the light-haired girl borderline demanded. Her Beedrill dug a stinger into the ground, struggling to get upright. The boy raised a hand, and his Pawniard did wait. The black and red Pokemon restlessly began sharpening its blades against each other, awaiting the order while making the intent clear. On seeing this, the girl begged, "Please!" The Beedrill's antennae twitched. With this word, the Pokemon forced himself into the air, defiantly flapping his wings. The trainer cheered. "Yes!"
"Still want more?" The boy flashed a grin and flipped his chestnut-colored hair. This was getting good. "Your Beedrill must really like you to keep going at this point."
The girl rolled her blue eyes at that, doubting that notion. "If we let ourselves be beaten by some nobody like you, we don't have a hope of achieving our dream!"
"Pokemon League?"
"That's right."
"I figured." Should've been obvious. Who wouldn't expect the average traveling trainer to be on a journey to collect badges? He smirked with competitive intent. "But if you think I'm a nobody, then-"
And then a buzzing interrupted them. The boy reached into his pocket and retrieved a small earpiece. He peered at the display. It was indicating an emergency of some kind.
The girl looked at him, arching an eyebrow in disgust. "You're taking a call in the middle of a battle?"
"I know, right?" He didn't disagree, but hastily followed it up with, "It's only because it's important, but it'll just be a minute!" He tucked the radio around his right ear and placed it inside. He pressed a button on its side, tuning into the broadcast scanner. "Just need to see what it is..."
"...at the Lake of Rage. This is top-priority. All officials in the area are asked to get to the Lake of Rage immediately! I repeat-"
He heard screaming and the crackle of flames in the background. Could there have been a Pokemon attack? He pressed another button, opening communications. "Everyone?" he asked, dreading the answer.
"Everyone!" He winced. Just the reply didn't want to hear.
"Ugh, sorry. Have to cut our battle short," the boy said with unembellished frustration, removing and pocketing the earpiece. His Pawniard was in the middle of shooting him a dirty look while being recalled into the black and yellow ball. "Gotta get over to the Lake of Rage. There's been an incident of some kind..."
"You're a cop?" she asked with shock. A dozen thoughts swiftly flashed through her mind, but the one that ultimately rose out of her throat was, "But you look like you're my age!"
"I'm not a cop!" he insisted. "I'm...just an official of-sorts. But not an officer or anything!" He figured from this girl's tone she was anti-authority, and he didn't want that association anyway. The boy looked off into the distance, shaking his head. "I was only here on a trip, but..." He snapped up and quickly waved it off. "Oh, never mind."
The girl didn't allow him to notice her sigh of relief, quickly changing the subject to his dilemma. "Can't you just say no? Or you're in the middle of something?" Whenever she was busy with something, everything else could wait.
"A bit late for that, anyway. If I wanted to do that I should've just ignored it." Still there was a silver lining despite its poor timing. His instincts told him this was the sort of issue that interested him, and related to why he became an official in the first place. He placed his bag on the ground and reached into it. He brought out two wheeled pieces, snapping and connecting them together and placing the assembled device on the ground.
"Is that a skateboard?" the girl asked, with some bemusement.
"Well, they said to get there quickly. And this will get me there quickly." He stepped onto it, a simple plain black board with green wheels. "Anyway, it was fun while it lasted. If I see you again, we'll pick up where we left off!"
"I don't think we will..." the light-haired girl remarked under her breath, but he managed to hear her anyway.
He paused, then shrugged in agreement. "Yeah, you're probably right." One of the disadvantages of traveling, meeting people who you might never meet again. And he was only here for three more days anyway. "Just in case, I'm Nori. What about you?"
The girl hesitated for a few moments, before deciding to relent. "Amara Ramsey."
With a satisfied nod, Nori slung his bag onto his back. "Later, Amara. Good luck on your dream!" And with this, he skated off.
Trees, shrubbery, and the odd building seemed a blur as Nori raced through Route 43. He had a really bad feeling about whatever this was. There were only a few things he could think of that could result in a call for all available officials to be sent out, and even fewer that could happen in a place like the Lake of Rage. He had sent out his Nidorina, who was racing alongside him.
There were suggestions as to the extent of the damage on the path to the lake. Most apparent were the multiple smoke plumes billowing out over the area. But he also passed by a number of shaken trainers and families along the way. Many probably very confused why someone was going in the opposite direction of everyone else on a skateboard, but Nori paid them only enough heed to not crash into them as he skated over to his destination. The same went for the wild Pokemon he passed by, who seemed uneasy and out of sorts. Any that looked to challenge him thought better of it when the Nidorina shot them a fierce glare.
In what felt like no time at all, the lake came into view. On a day like this it might have been filled with sparkling water, frolicking Pokemon, relaxing fishermen, and perhaps families getting in some R&R before winter could hit. But there were none of those things there at that moment. Just from where he was he could see flashing sirens and paramedics administering medical treatment to people and Pokemon. He was just about to make his way in, when someone stood in his way.
"Whoa there, young man! You can't go in here!" A stout officer whose uniform could barely contain him moved to obstruct entrance to the lake. Nori stepped off his skateboard, flipped, and picked it up as he approached anyway. "There's been a-"
The official cut him off by reaching into his jacket and flashing a silver ID card with bright orange trim. "Nori Carino, Pokemon rehabilitator."
"O-Oh. Sorry, Mr. Carino, sir!" The officer hastily apologized with a bow. Nori smirked. He ordinarily didn't like being called either of those, except in cases like this. That is, going from being disrespected to getting respected immediately after introducing himself. It was a bit weird to get such a flustered reaction though, so he couldn't help but have a bit of fun with it.
"What is your name?" he asked in his best military tone, barely stifling a giggle. His Nidorina huffed and rolled her eyes.
The large man saluted. "Officer Lars Bunston, sir! Station security, sir!"
That was worth it, but Nori thought from there to be a bit more serious. The situation must be serious if every official in the area was called over. "Tell me what happened, Bunston," the young official asked, before thinking better of it and raising a hand. "No, wait. Bring me wherever it happened and explain the situation along the way."
"Yes, sir!" The stout officer looked over to one of his fellows as Nori began disassembling his skateboard. "Hey, watch the entrance! A Pokemon rehabilitator asked me to show him what happened!" A red-haired female officer nodded and took up his post. "You ready to go, Mr. Carino?"
Okay, that was quickly getting old, but he also figured nothing he could say could stop this officer from addressing him that way. So he resigned himself to it. "Sure," he replied, placing the board back in his bag. "Let's move." He motioned for his Nidorina to follow and they were off.
As they walked a path counterclockwise around the lake, Nori took in his surroundings. The shining sun defied the atmosphere here. Various emergency vehicles were scattered around the area, including a pair of police bikes. People were receiving medical treatment, getting queried by law enforcement, or getting comfort from either them or their friends and family. In particular near the shore, he spotted two paramedics loading a man onto a stretcher. The man groaned in pain as he was lifted, a friend giving him words of encouragement, as he was carted into the back of an ambulance. "So just what exactly caused all this?" the young man asked. "What happened?"
"Well sir, truth be told I don't know much," Bunston confessed, upon which Nori slapped a palm onto his forehead. Was this guy for real? "But I can tell you what I do know! And I lead you to someone who can tell you everything!"
"Fine, fine," Nori grumbled. He looked away and what he saw made him wish he hadn't. A red tarp covering a person, aside from their feet which had a tag attached to a toe. Beside it was a despondent Growlithe, its face drooping as it lay beside. "Well, what DO you know?" he quickly spoke, hoping to take his mind off that downer of a sight.
"Apparently this was caused by a rampaging Gyarados. One that got released here by a trainer a while ago."
"Releasing a dangerous Pokemon out into the wild?" You didn't see that charge often. After all, how could you know who a Pokemon's trainer had been once it was released? But it was a part of trainer law, despite being not widely known. He hadn't even known himself until he had to study it.
"Right," confirmed Bunston. "Last I heard there's been two confirmed fatalities, and several others injured or missing."
"So-"
"Out of my way, out of my way!" came a high-pitched cry from behind Nori.
He stepped out of the way to allow passage to an anguished young girl with disheveled purple hair, who couldn't have been older than ten or eleven. She had on a simple shirt and jeans that seemed they were thrown on in a rush. The girl raced through on a pink bike as the redheaded policewoman from before followed in vain pursuit. The girl came skidding to a stop in front of a burned patch of land. Could there have once been a house there? The only hint of it was a bald fisherman in a blue vest and white pants, sobbing violently as he stared at the wreckage, a firefighter in full unform rubbing his back.
"Shantell? Shantell?!" the girl shouted, voice full of concern and fear. "Tell me you're okay!"
The man slowly turned to face her. "Andy..." He attempted to rub the tears from his face, but they were quickly replaced. "Andy, I...gah!" The fisherman dropped to the ground, pounding a fist into the earth and letting out a particularly vulgar curse. "Shantell...she didn't make it out!"
The girl backed up in disbelief, shaking her head. Nori grunted, bowing in brief respect. He could see a mixture of emotions on that girl's face over the loss of her friend, ranging from disbelief at what was happening to an emptiness. And from how her hands clenched slightly, he able to tell there was a certain wrath blossoming in her. His Pokemon neutrally stood on watching.
"I've met that man," remarked Bunston, standing beside Nori. "He built his living here. Often came to sell fish in Mahogany. Now it's all gone because of what happened." A yellowish car suddenly pulled up, a woman a blue business suit getting out of it and consoling the girl, who was burying her face in her hands. "Come on," urged the stout officer. "Let's keep moving."
Nori could only follow along silently. This was just too screwed up. While the Lake of Rage is known to have a lot of Gyarados living in it - leading to its alternate name of Gyarados Lake - they surprisingly aren't normally this violent. The closest incidents he's heard of could all be classified as a wild Pokemon attack, or occurred closer to Mahogany Town by ones that wandered too close. But today, one did rampage here. People lost their lives here today. Others had theirs changed forever. Just what could've happened to cause all this? It had to have been something huge, no doubt.
The walk to their destination continued on for its remaining three minutes in silence. By that time they reached the eastern side of the lake. "Well, here we are." Officer Bunston said, with a gesture made as if he were pointing out a perpetrator. Here was the one responsible, lying unmoving on its side upon the shore. Its eyes were shut, and its mouth was open as if it had been screaming in its final moments. "The Gyarados that caused all this."
Nori's mouth hung agape in shock. "This Gyarados?" He'd heard something about an unusual-looking Gyarados who was being held captive at a Team Rocket base near Mahogany Town. This one would have to be it, its scales as crimson as falling leaves. He even heard that when it got loose during a police raid, the local Gym Leader himself was forced to subdue it. And now here it was back in the wild, with its life cut short. He didn't want to imagine what had been going through its mind. He approached the fallen beast solemnly, placing a shaking hand on its head. Its body cold to the touch, which he hardly felt or cared as he closed his eyes. "You must...have been through a lot," he whispered to it. "And now it's led to this. I can...I hope you can rest in peace..."
He remained silent for several moments before his Nidorina nudged his leg, bringing him back to reality. The light blue Pokemon looked fairly uncomfortable, an expression that surprised her trainer. She pointed to his belt, and he got the message easily enough. "Oh, okay. You don't have to be out anymore." She nodded. This Nidorina could handle a lot of things, but being before a Pokemon that had to be violently put down was not one of them. Nori returned her to her Poke Ball.
"Are you finished, Mr. Carino?" Bunston asked, approaching Nori.
"Yes," he said with a subtle nod, not even looking at the stout policeman. He gazed off across the lake, where he spotted a pair of Gyarados and a number of Magikarp watching from a distance, no doubt mourning their fallen friend. He gave them a somewhat more perceptible nod before turning back. "Let's..." He took a deep breath and summoned his nerve. He was sure the details would be gruesome, infuriating, or both, but he felt he had to hear them. "Take me there."
Bunston gestured a short distance away. A female officer with blue twintails was interviewing a witness, a short dark-haired girl who looked to be about sixteen years of age. Given the state of her black hair and how she was wrapped in a towel, Nori supposed she had been splashed or even sprayed with water. Fortunately, it looked to him like she'd suffered no serious injuries.
"Thank you for your time," the policewoman said, patting the girl on the shoulder. "You've been a huge help to us."
"Y-y-y-you're w-w-wel-welcome," she replied, voice and body quivering. Not just from being cold, either. Nori frowned. Maybe he was wrong about her being unscathed from this. As she sauntered off, the stout officer marched forth and gave his superior a salute in greeting.
"Officer Bunston. Who's this?"
"Officer Jenny, this is Mr. Carino," the large officer introduced with pride. "He's a Pokemon rehabilitator and wants to know about the incident."
"A Pokemon rehabilitator?" she inquired, raising an eyebrow. She studied Nori carefully, coming to the conclusion that he didn't look anything like an official. He barely looked thirteen for crying out loud. "I haven't heard of that before. Which department do you work with?"
Nori grumbled and reached into his pocket, retrieving his earpiece. He couldn't count the number of times something like this happened. "Is hearing the request to come on this thing not good enough for you?" he asked, figuring this was the quickest way to prove his status. Only emergency service workers, certain government workers, certain high-level trainers, and those given special privileges by governing bodies were granted one of those. "And before you ask, it does belong to me." To prove it wasn't stolen either, he pressed a button and it displayed "N CARINO SPRT-01" on the LCD display. He placed a hand on his pocket, ready to pull out his ID too if need be.
Officer Jenny blinked. She wasn't expecting this kind of reaction out of this young man, to say the least. "It's okay," she reassured him apologetically. He wasn't hiding how on-edge he was at the moment. "You can relax. I just wanted you to confirm your identity."
Nori deflated with a sigh. "Sorry. I get it." That was almost reflexive from him. The police certainly would not want a civilian to squirm their way into being told sensitive police information. And in spite of his position, he hardly looked the part of the official. Even if he were to dress the part, the age would still cast doubts. "But now that I have, can you tell me what happened here? Since it relates to my field. I want to know what led to this all."
"Well, I don't see the harm in letting you know," she said. "From what witnesses have told us, this all started at around 11:35am this morning. There was a trainer described to be of above average height and medium build who saw this red Gyarados and attempted to capture it. Some people stated that he declared he was going to capture a shiny Pokemon shortly before doing so."
"Oh jeez," Nori rasped. "One of those types."
"He began attacking it with his Magneton, and later on his Qwilfish as well. It was shortly after this that the red Gyarados started attacking everything in sight. Bystanders, and even other Gyarados attempted to subdue it, but only caused it to get more violent." Nori sighed. A good thing to try and do in-theory, but since they hadn't succeeded, it only made things worse. "A few called Pokemon Control, and after that..." Her voice trailed off. She didn't want to finish that thought.
So that's what happened. An arrogant jerk and a terrified wild Pokemon, all leading to a tragic outcome. But at the moment, Nori just wanted to know one thing. "So where is he? The guy who did this? Where is the sack of crap who made it go on a rampage?" Officer Jenny's response was to look down at the ground sadly. "Oh. I see..." The Pokemon rehabiliator lowered his head in sympathy. Even for someone attempting to capture a Pokemon out of greed, that fate was a bit much for Nori's tastes. After a few seconds, he looked up and asked, "What about the one who released it here?"
Officer Jenny shook her head. "We've been looking, but we haven't picked them up yet."
Nori huffed, glancing just briefly in the Gyarados' direction to indicate he was about to refer to it. It was hard for him to look at. "Poor thing. It didn't deserve this after all it's been through."
"You know about what happened?"
"A bit, yes." Besides the news reports, he had heard some chatter over the scanner. "I know this Gyarados was originally taken from the lake by Team Rocket and held in their Mahogany hideout. There was some 'civilian involvement' during the raid there. And I guess whoever rescued it brought it back here."
Jenny looked about, before leaning in closer. "It's more than that," she explained in a hushed tone. They didn't want the general public to know about the full extent of the matter yet, to prevent any panic. "They were broadcasting a signal to force Pokemon to evolve. That Gyarados was proof of its success. Their scientists were performing all sorts of tests and experiments on it in their base on Route 44, before we went in and shut it down like their Mahogany hideout."
"What the-!?" He'd heard some pretty crazy things before, but using radio waves to make Pokemon evolve was in the top three. "That is pretty ridiculous. Besides, I don't get it. A Pokemon that evolves too soon can run into...well, problems." He paused for a beat but quickly clarified. "Um, I mean power-wise, not...but in this case, maybe other kinds of problems too." But in regards to power, he figured it might be like evolving a Pokemon with an evolutionary stone. Sure, it'd get a boost in power, but it becomes much more difficult for it to learn moves. But a more pressing issue came to mind, "And just because they evolved them doesn't mean they'll be loyal to Team Rocket at all."
"It's hard to know what their motivations are," admitted Jenny. Even the police force had trouble dealing with the Rockets. There had been several instances where civilians getting involved had made a difference, which is why it wasn't that frowned upon legally. "We managed to arrest a fair number of their numbers there. But their top executives and many others escaped."
"Seems crime always finds a way to slip through the cracks." That's just how it was. Wherever you went in the world, you were bound to run into some form of it. From street hoodlums to organized groups, and the latter always found a way to persist. Even the very organization in question was thought gone for a while, yet it had risen from the grave. Nori chuckled. "That raid must've been crazy."
"I was part of that raid, actually. I just finished writing up paperwork on it yesterday," She grumbled thinking about it. There was something she wanted to vent about, but hadn't gotten a chance to because of this suddenly happening. "I was just told a few hours ago I have to resubmit it because I made a small typo in one place. I misspelled Exeggutor."
"Freaking pencil pushers, man," Nori openly belittled with a pish-posh handwave, earning a chuckle from Jenny. "Something improper or not to their liking, like a typo like that or a capitalization thing, and they scream at you. It's like they can't focus on anything else."
"You've put up with it before, too?" she asked.
"Thankfully, no." But he had heard the horror stories. "I'm really glad I don't have to fill out any paperwork in my position," he said with a small chuckle. "All I need to do is report in by phone every month. I don't know if I'd be able to handle it if I had to fill out forms all the time."
"Speaking of which, I never heard of your position before." She had been wondering, and the conversation had drifted in its direction. "I assume it's similar to therapists and careworkers in the industry?" He nodded to confirm this. "I thought so. You're very young to be an official as well. What's your story, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Me? Well, that's a long story. The short of it is-"
Nori was interrupted by Officer Bunston, who came over bounding over with glee. "We got'em! We caught'em!"
Nori glanced over. "You got who?"
"The one who did this!" the stout officer declared with a grin. It gave him great pleasure to be able to break this news to people, and he was unafraid to show it. "The one who released this monster back into the wild!"
The young official had been so caught up in his conversation with the blue haired officer, he'd momentarily forgot the severity of the situation at hand. It all came rushing back to him at that moment. "You did?" His interest in this overrode his urge to call out the officer for referring to this Gyarados as a monster. It was just as much a victim in this as anyone else.
"We did, sir!" confirmed Bunston, giving him a bigger grin and two thumbs up. "They're being held at the main station in Mahogany right now!"
"All right." Nori knew exactly what he had to do at that point. He placed his bag on the ground, retrieving the halves of his board. He assembled the halves together and held it vertically.
"A skateboard?" queried Officer Jenny. This was not something she'd expected to see from someone named as an official at all. "Why?"
"Hey, some people use bikes. Some people use roller skates. I heard in some regions they even ride Tauros to get around..." Nori let the board fall to the ground and placed a foot on it. With a smirk, he asked, "I use a skateboard. Is there something wrong with that?"
Bunston waved his hands. "N-No. Not at all, Mr. Carino, sir..."
"Wait a minute, where are you going?" asked Officer Jenny.
He looked over his shoulder as he placed his bag back on. "I'm going to give this person a piece of my mind!"
And with this proclamation, Nori skated off to the south. Whoever this person was, they were responsible for everything here today. He had no idea what could have been going through their mind at the time. Releasing an unstable Gyarados who had been through countless cruel experiments just screamed of being a bad idea. None of these people had to die, nor did the Gyarados have to die. This was the exact thing he became a Pokemon rehabilitator to prevent. It was all this person's fault, and he had to get to the bottom of it.
And so the first part of this comes to an end. I actually wrote most of this one in like a day after my inspiration struck, but tweaked it quite a bit over time - most notably the first scene (which I could write like a full page of notes on) and adding a bit more to Jenny and Nori casually talking with each other. A lot went into the concepts behind Nori's creation, but one relevant one I'll say for now was creating a character who could be in-between the adult and young persons' worlds and be in an interesting spot in-universe.
An interesting fact: I actually originally conceived Nori using a bike. After all, the main series games have folding bicycles that can fit in a bag. However, after remembering the nature of the source fic's world and how laws are handled in it - you know, a big part of the inspiration for this fic - I figured a skateboard might work better and able to better fit into a grey area on any helmet laws. And if folding bikes exist in Pokemon, why not skateboards you can disassemble?
Nori's party:
Nidorina (Female, Sassy Nature)
Ability: Hustle
Attacks: Take Down, Double Kick, Crunch, Poison Jab
Pawniard (Male, Naughty Nature)
Ability: Defiant
Attacks: Fury Cutter, Metal Claw, Slash, Psycho Cut
