Chapter 1: Reprisals and Beginnings

Mira enjoyed the brief moment of peace and quiet. There was no one else out here on the bow of the ferry. She played with the peeling paint on the metal railing through fingerless gloves. A bit of sunlight peaked through the cloud layer, warming her bare shoulders. Beneath her Ren growled playfully. Then the Eevee yipped several times. Mira felt the pokémon dash past her legs. She glanced back in mild amusement. Ren was chasing Vinegar around a pair of deck chairs. Faster and faster the two adorable pokémon went, starting to form into a pair of blurs. Mira leaned back from the railing and started to worry. The little game was turning into a playful battle of Quick Attacks, and pretty soon an innocent bystanding deck chair would get hurt. Mira did not want to pay for that.

"Hey!" she called out. Instantly Vinegar stopped, the well-trained Vulpix cocking her tufted towards her master. Ren hid behind a thick chair leg, as usual playing hard to get.

Mira called again, "Ren! Get back over here." The Eevee peeked out at her, its tiny face seeming almost mischievous as it refused. Mira sighed. She wasn't in the mood to administer discipline. She took a couple steps towards the disobedient little runt.

The door to the interior deck of the ferry abruptly opened. Nate strolled through, lips pursed in thought. Ren yipped happily and dashed off towards his favorite human. Nate glanced down. He offered a hand. Ren jumped up onto his hand before scampering up his arm to perch on the human's shoulder. Ren turned to look at his master, then yipped again. "Vee!"

Mira huffed. "I don't know why he likes you more than me. I pet him, I feed him, I train him, I give him a warm place to sleep at night…"

Nate laughed. It was the first time Mira had heard him laugh since they'd left Cianwood the day before. She was surprised at how much relief that gave her. If Nate could relax, even for a moment, then maybe things would work themselves out. She noticed his lack of companions and commented on it.

Nate shrugged, careful not to upset the pokémon perched on his shoulder. "Well, obviously I'm not going to let the new guy out, even if we are in international waters. Maxwell disappeared some time ago through a door marked "Engine Room". He's probably sucking current from the ship's main generator. I'm not worried about him. Maxwell's nothing if not self-reliant."

Mira looked at him oddly. "Is that legal? You know, stealing electricity?"

"No one's commented on it before."

"Oh, speaking of Maxwell, how's the invisibility project coming?"

Nate looked up and to the left, silent for a few moments. Finally he replied, "Nothing works so far. I think Maxwell knows the main idea. He knows what electromagnetic waves are. I think he sees them in a more intuitive way than I can even imagine. Still, it's hard to communicate any specifics. It's like trying to do physics without math. Anyways, I'm putting it on the back-burner while we take care of the real problem at hand."

"Have you tried asking someone from Goldenrod University?" Mira persisted.

Nate leaned in close to Mira and lowered his voice. "No. I think they would see it as dangerously close to forbidden research. And they'd be right. It's more of a Psychic-type trick then an Electric-type move. I'm going to keep this a secret unless I can find someone I trust. Besides you and Buck, obviously."

"Speaking of Buck, where the hell is he? He disappeared the moment we got our stuff stowed in the cabin."

Nate made a face. "Gambling. With a couple of sailors covered in tattoos."

Mira nodded. "Not your scene, I know."

"It's not your scene either."

Mira smiled coyly. "I dunno, some of those guys have some real stories to tell. And, oh, the muscles on that guy we saw working the ramp earlier-"

Nate coughed. "Spare me. Anyways, have you heard from your parents yet?"

Mira bit her lip. In Nate's considered opinion, this made her even more adorable than usual. At length she replied, "Yeah. It went surprisingly well, all things considered. They've been pushing me to train more seriously for a long time now. And they felt a lot calmer that Buck went along with us. Plus…nah, it's too embarrassing, I can't tell you that." She blushed at something and quickly asked "What about you?"

Nate winced. "It was bad. Really bad. Mom never wanted me to get involved in battling, and even though I told her that we weren't traveling for the sake of training, she still started yelling. I think she called me a "sentimental moron" and "hormone-crazed imbecile" because she was too furious to think of anything more clever. She told me that anyone with a hint of common sense would have dumped off the little guy into someone else's lap."

Mira nodded in agreement. "That would be sensible, but heartless. I guess my parents thought that I might get some clemency because I'm only helping , not doing it myself. I dunno. I think if they find us with your new pokémon they'll just dump us into the Ocean. Or a dumpster. Or a forest. Or wherever is most convenient to hide our bodies."

Nate frowned. "Don't be morbid. We are actually taking stupidly high risks in this whole thing. But with Buck along, we have a good chance of making it. Besides, I'm not going to spend the rest of my life on that backwater island. I think that's part of what made my Mom so angry. She knows that it's time for me to leave. To make my own way. To grow up."

Mira smiled. "Us. It's time for us to grow up together."

"Yeah, right. Together. So um, do you want to find something to drink? I'm starting to wish we'd brought some bottled water with us. The stuff coming out of the taps tastes like mud." They headed inside, still almost a full day out from Cinnabar.

Five minutes later a though struck Nate. Wait, was she just flirting with me? No, couldn't be. Wishful thinking.

"Arceus' dirty left paw, it's hot out today." Mandy's high-pitched voice broke Alessandro out of his focus on the village arranged below them. Alessandro glanced over at his complaining partner, before returning his gaze to the binoculars. Mandy had sprawled next to him, heedless of the grass stains seeping into her leather jacket. She gently stroked Midnight, who lay curled up against her trainer's stomach. The tiny Umbreon purred almost inaudibly at the attention.

Mandy continued, "Why are we attacking this shitpile of a village anyways?"

Alessandro sighed. "Did you even bother to read our orders?"After waiting for a few seconds he realized that his partner would not bother responding, and added, "Our quarry passed through here a few days ago, openly displaying their Psychic-types. Instead of kicking them out and calling the police like good, law-abiding citizens, they chose to harbor known criminals. And then they had the audacity to deny it when our representative arrived. We can't let this sort of betrayal go unpunished."

A calm voice replied to Alessandro inside his own mind. "Master, I sense that you are trying to convince me as much as your human partner. I must admit that this plan does not abide within my honor. And yet, I cannot dispute the clarity of your orders."

Alessandro replied in kind, "And further, you know the truth of it. Duty trumps conscience, as it always must."

Lucario growled audibly at that, clearly not agreeing. Before the argument could go any further, Mandy rolled off her back and to her feet, displacing Midnight with a small yip of confusion. She returned the pokémon before glancing down.

"Hey, we ready to get going on this, or what? I'd like to make it back to the lake before nightfall." Mandy said. She added action to words by releasing Gastly and Absol, using the bulk of the hill to shield the flash of white light from view. The ghost quickly vanished while drifting in the direction of the town. Absol waited patiently, the well-trained harbinger of doom staring serenely down at the town.

Alessandro rose into a crouch, still peering through binoculars at the target. He began assembling the thoughts that had filled his mind while he studied their goal. Out loud, he commented "Actually a large number of pokémon given the size of the town. Fair number of fliers in addition to the grass and ground types. No evidence of dragons or psychics, though. I'm going to send Grimer in and start laying down some kerosene around those houses on the left side. Tangela will approach from the other side in full view. If they have any fire-types, they're well hidden, so that should be alright. Gastly will cause confusion in their ranks as they pull themselves together to face Tangela. You and I can start attacking from the air at the same time. Meanwhile Lucario will attack from the south, and maybe Absol from the north, by the road back towards New Bark Town? Yeah, that could work. Once we've got them bunched up and starting to panic, send in everyone else to support Tangela. They should break and start running to the Western end, at which time Magmar ignites the kerosene and burns the surviving ones alive. Mop-up after that should be trivial. Did I miss anything?"

While Alessandro had been talking, Mandy's expression had hardened. She still looked relaxed, only now an edge of pure steel lurked beneath the surface.

"What about reinforcements from Professor Elm's lab? It's only a few miles to the west."

Alessandro shrugged. "He's off in Hoenn for some big conference, so that shouldn't be a problem. His assistants won't be able to command the really dangerous ones in the lab, and we can fight off regular trainers. It'll be good to get the exercise, anyways."

John scratched his beard awkwardly. Aliana and her husband had been trying to drag him into their argument for twenty minutes without much success. He was running out of ideas to stay out of their conflict when a blessed distraction appeared.

Into the heavy silence he commented, "Hey, do you guys smell that? It's like someone tipped over a fuel barrel nearby. We should probably go check it out."

Aliana nodded, and followed John in the rough direction the odor was coming from. When you lived in a wooden house on the edge of civilization, it paid to be cautious about fire hazards. The three of them turned the corner and found a huge puddle of liquid behind the Shepherdson's house. The familiar scent of heating oil washed over them, along with a hint of something less familiar. John swayed a little from the rush of fumes, and backed up a bit. Glancing at his two companions, he asked the obvious question.

"The hell?"

Aliana's husband responded "I didn't see a barrel or nothin. I'm thinking maybe—"

A distant boom echoed through the air and the earth trembled slightly. John whirled, just in time to see a second Fire Blast slam into the co-op. With a heavy crunching noise and the scream of twisting metal the roof collapsed entirely. Tremors rocked through the ground more rapidly now, but it was clear that this was no earthquake.

Aliana gasped in outrage. "Something just killed the Pattersons! They're burning this town to the ground. We've got to do something about it. Thor, I need you now more than ever."

A burst of white light in front of them momentarily obscured the aging Machamp as it materialized. The nine-foot tall Fighter took a knee to face its trainer. Patches of grey mottled the pokémon's naturally blue skin tone, and its head crests had been badly chipped. Still, a fire raged in its eyes as intense as the blaze consuming the bodies of the villagers unlucky enough to live on the far side of town.

Aliana stroked the creature's cheek with her hand, whispering "I know that you are tired. I know that you left your youth behind you. But once a Fighter is always a Fighter. It's time for battle, Thor."

Grunting somberly, the Machamp rose back to its feet and took off at a trot towards the unseen enemy. Aliana glanced archly at her husband, hoping against hope that he might have taken a pokémon with him on their walk. One look at his frustrated expression dashed that dream, and she turned to look at John, who had fortunately been joined by a Graveler and a less common pokémon.

"Since when have you had a Wartortle? Where did you get it?" Aliana shouted.

John just shrugged. "Hardly matters. I'm going to send Mulch here," he patted the Graveler's bumpy exterior "and Adena towards the school. To protect it." He didn't have to add 'if it's still standing'. They all knew that the increasingly loud sounds of burning, breaking, and screaming coming from the rest of the village didn't bode well. In fact, John was rather amazed that his neighbors hadn't sprinted after their children yet.

Aliana sighed. "Thank Arceus the children are with their uncle in Saffron. I wouldn't be able to face death like knowing they were here with us."

John glared at her. "That's it? You've already given up? You're not even going to go down fighting alongside your Machamp?"

Aliana put her arm around her husband's broad shoulders and nodded. "Thor's too old to fight against well-trained pokémon. He's just going to buy some time." She sighed. "John, I should have died in the war. It was a logistical accident that kept me out of the Seafoam Islands when the bomb went off. Me and Henry, we've had a good life here, raised a couple wonderful children. It's wrong to fight fate."

John shook his head in amazement. "Fine. Die here. I'm going to make a stand. For the children who didn't get to visit their uncle."

He jogged off towards the southern end of town, noting with growing concern that the pools of spilled kerosene were all over the place. There was no way that was an accident. He shuddered briefly at the thought of a well-placed Flamethrower attack igniting the whole block in one hit. A few minutes later he reached Selk street, only one block from the school, although a line of trees blocked the building proper from view. He couldn't smell the smoke as well from here, even with the wind blowing softly to the west. That was definitely a good sign.

His slight sense of relief crumbled when he saw the scene playing out on the field in front of the village school. An alert Lucario patrolled in front of a huddled mass of children. The handful of teachers and assistants were nowhere to be found. As he crossed the street, the Lucario stopped its patrol and started swiftly walking towards him. For some reason John felt compelled to reason with the pokémon, and stayed Adena, pushing down on her thick skull to keep her from attacking. Mulch stood next to him on its absurdly short legs, the hulking Graveller not keen to take on a Fighting-type.

The Lucario held out one paw in what appeared almost like an invitation to shake. Playing along with the utterly bizarre and terrifying dream that today had become, John reached out to grasp the powerful creature's right paw. A jolt of something shot through him as soon as he made contact. He felt dizzy, the kind of feeling that comes right after chugging a beer or standing up too quickly. A voice sounded in his head, in calm, measured, and quite alien tones.

"Human. You are a resident of this town. Do you know why we are here? Do you know why you are being punished?"

John shook his head violently, and added inside his head, "Do I know why my town is being burned to the ground, with all of my friends and neighbors inside of it? No. No, I don't. And I'm getting pretty Arceus-damned curious about why all of the children were rounded up in a field."

The Lucario replied, "Not long ago you gave succor to a trio of adventurers. Or criminals, I should rather say, as they walked around with a Psychic-type. Instead of reporting them, your people hid them from the local Team representative and denied the matter when questioned. You may find our response overwhelmingly harsh, but we cannot afford to sacrifice our hard-earned peace to a resurgence of the Psychics. Examples must be made, and you were simply unlucky enough to play that role."

John growled, growing uncomfortably aware that he was not the most intelligent or powerful individual in sight. He noticed that the Lucario had failed to mention why he was here guarding the children. He asked, "I can't deal with that now. Ok. Look. More immediate. What are you doing with these children. Are you going to kill them too, to make an example?"

Lucario glanced down at the ground, as if embarrassed. John had too remind himself that this was a pokémon he was speaking with, not an actual person. It was growing tricky to remember. The creature spoke again in his mind, its cultured voice bringing to mind nothing so much as a chivalric knight. "I can see you think of me as a guard. And indeed I am. I am the wall that shelters these children from the waves of the storm, from the flames of the forest fire. The other pokémon of my masters give in to their brutish natures when under stress. In truth, there is no other pokémon in this town capable an willing to stand between the helpless and the wrathful."

John couldn't believe what was happening. He came here to fight off bandits or marauding wild pokémon, not engage in a philosophical discussion with a Lucario. A Lucario, of all species! Nearly extinct, the dual fighting-psychic types were only found working for the Team or in isolated regions still outside of the Team's control. And what was worse, John was starting to think about joining up with the thing. His desperate fumbling for the one question that would unhinge the honor-bound pokémon in front of him drove him to ask what was nearly the right question.

"If you're willing to fight to protect the helpless, why are you working with the Team?"

Lucario's features twisted into an imitation of a wry look. John didn't like that expression. Had he been more educated he might have thought about the Uncanny Valley. Instead, he listened to the Lucario's response.

"I will hazard a guess that you have never personally experienced capture with a pokeball. The process deeply changes you, in ways that have always been difficult for humans to empathize with. My fealty will always rest with my master. I would follow him to the gates of hell itself, even if he intended to conquer the Dark Citadel and claim it as his own. To my good fortune my master is bound by the same code of conduct that compels me. Yet he has pledged to a force that often does great evil in the service of a higher good. It is a tradeoff civilians like you find difficult to accept. I shall not protest as to his perfection, yet I hope that you will admire his virtues before you condemn him for what you see as his weaknesses. Alessandro must do what is wrong in the service of what is right. And we may consider ourselves blessed that we do not face the same dilemmas."

The Lucario shrugged its shoulders, loosening up the muscles, before adding "If you still desire to wrest control of these human children from me, then I shall wait as you prepare for battle. And I will not relate your presence here, Sir John, if you choose to flee to the south before the less honorable of my master's pokémon arrive. They will think nothing of crushing your body and eating the corpse."

John glared. "I'm not leaving until these kids are safe. You smell that smoke? I know you do, being part dog. It's getting stronger. Closer. What are you gonna do about it?"

The Lucario continued staring at him, before finally deciding to reveal its plan to the simple-minded yet oddly respect-worthy man in front of him. Perhaps he could serve as the witness to the Team's destruction of this village. Lucario would prefer not to have to kill him.