The scent of rain was fresh, and the pavement outside was soaked through. The sky above was a bright blue, however, with only the odd cloud to gracefully float in front of the late morning sun. It was a nice sight, I thought, hoping to head outside soon, anyway. I pulled the dark blue curtains back over the window, effectively blanketing my room in darkness.
Po Town was always quiet in the mornings, but that was only because most grunts slept until eleven. They were party animals, and crazy teenagers, and had no one to scold them of their behaviour, so it was fine for them to do whatever they wanted. Or so they thought.
I really hated stepping over sleeping bodies on the way to the kitchen, though. Right outside the door of my room, this time. I can't freaking believe it. Couldn't they at least sleep against a wall or something? A frustrated huff puffed past my lips as I stretched my leg over the splayed body, tiptoeing over the dude as quietly as I could manage. I lifted up my back leg, and felt something grab onto my ankle.
A sound that could only be described as a shrieking mimikyu fled from my throat, and I ripped my leg away from whatever grabbed me, the extra momentum propelling me against the hallway wall. I turned around quickly, getting a mouthful of my hair in the process, and glared at the body still flopped out on the floor as I pulled the hair out of my mouth. The not-corpse grinned at me sheepishly, a sleepy-smug look dancing in the Skull grunt's eyes.
"Morris, what the fuck," I hissed half-heartedly, too busy trying to pick the stray hair off of my tongue. Arceus, why do I have to lose so much hair. My words came out as a lisp, which caused Morris to laugh.
"Your morning call never fails, sweetheart. You could wake the dead with those lungs of yours!" He called after me, and I waved him off. I didn't quite want to wake the building full of tired grunts, but it wasn't an unusual occurrence. They would deal. Maybe.
As I entered the kitchen, a girl with lavender hair bounded up to me, a mug designed after a carnivine held in her hands. "Morning, Soleil!" She giggled, bouncing on her heels. I peered into her cup, eyeing the black bean water suspiciously.
"You... didn't put espresso in that, did you, Effie?" I asked timidly, looking from the cup back up the energetic girl. Her smile widened in response.
"Dear Tapus, never do that again. And can you not call me Soleil? It's Sol, you shithead." Another laugh escaped Effie as she moved to sit on one of the stools that surrounded the small kitchen island. I glanced around the - once again - messy kitchen, internally screaming at the piled-up dishes in the sink, until my gaze landed on the coffee pot. There's some left!
I pulled a mug from the cupboards, helping myself to the intense bean water, and then sat down next to Effie, across from two other grunts who were busy watching something on a smartphone.
"Hey, did ya hear?" The blond one holding the phone piped up, though his eyes didn't leave the device. "Apparently pokemon have started attackin' peeps left 'n right."
I rested my chin in my free hand, the other securely wrapped around my coffee mug. "Pokemon don't just attack people, Hunter, unless they're provoked," I muttered, eyes narrowed at the blond grunt.
"'Parently they were unprovoked, though," he replied matter-of-factly, nudging his pink-haired companion. "Frey here thinks something is happening to the pokemon, yo."
"It doesn't matter what I think," Frey replied softly, looking away from Hunter. Their expression softened, as if they were lost in thought. The blond scoffed.
"All the psychic types flock to you, my friend. Your opinion matters," Hunter replied.
"Either way, I'm certain we'll hear more information about it later." I chugged the rest of my coffee in one fell swoop, and stood to go clean it out. "We'll just be careful in the mean time, right?"
Effie hummed a few notes that escalated in pitch, and slammed her hand down on the counter as I walked towards the sink, making me jump in surprise. "Oh, right! Aren't we getting a new person today or something?"
I turned around to face the island. "New person?" Frey and Hunter looked up from their shared phone, eyebrows creased in thought.
"Oh, he's not technically new," Frey began. "I think he's been around for a bit just doing odd jobs. What was his name?" Frey turned to look at Hunter, who shrugged in response.
"Yeah, I don't know either," Effie chirped. I hummed in reply, and turned back around to wash out my cup.
As soon as I stepped outside to do some training, my pokemon released themselves from their balls, and I was face-to-face with my minior, Pixel. On the ground, a little ways away, sat my mimikyu, Glitch, who stared at me blankly.
I stared back, unfazed by the ghost type's precarious nature, and softly pushed Pixel to float beside me. "Are you two alright with fighting each other for now?" A chime that sounded like pebbles falling on top of one another came from Pixel, while Glitch merely grumbled in reply.
I shook my head, knowing that Glitch would like to fight something, or someone, other than Pixel or the other grunts' pokemon, but I wasn't too keen on leaving Po Town any time soon, unless it was to grab groceries back in Malie City. Staying behind and taking care of base operations was a lot easier than some of the jobs we were given.
And by base operations, I mean making sure Po Town wasn't an absolute garbage pile.
A rumble from Glitch caught my attention. She was shaking wildly, flailing around her wooden tail, eyes sparkling something mischievous. And then she shot off like an arcanine using extreme speed, leaving a dust trail behind.
I cursed, eyeballing the direction she ran towards. The entrance to Po Town? But why? Motioning for Pixel to follow me, I ran after the mimikyu, dodging the haphazardly strewn barriers and debris. I skidded around a wall-like fence, and crashed into something, sending me and the unfortunate thing to the ground in a heap.
Beside me, from on top of the fence, I heard chuckling that could only belong to Glitch. I groaned, not wanting to open my eyes and see what - who? - I crashed in to. A groan from below me made me panic, and I shuffled myself away from the unfortunate soul, giving them enough space to sit up.
The blond had a choppy haircut, and his green eyes narrowed into a fine glare in my direction. I gulped, feeling the irritation he carried as if it had wrapped its self around me, ready to suffocate me, if it had to. He used one hand to prop himself up in to a sitting position, while the other hovered over the eye that was shadowed by bangs.
"Exactly why did you have to do that?" He grumbled as he moved to stand, sending shivers down my spine. He would have towered over me, even if I wasn't currently sitting on the ground with a pretty rock floating over my head.
Scary.
"I was running after my pokemon," I replied, pointing my index toward Glitch, who giggled her creepy giggle once again, swinging her wooden tail idly.
A grunt with bright orange hair stopped the blond from whatever he was going to say. "Hey, Gladion, Guzma wants to see you." Gladion rolled his eyes and shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie.
"I figured as much. Isn't that why I'm here to begin with?"
Wow. What a smartass.
Glitch jumped down from her perch on the fence, landing squarely in my lap. A rustling off to the side caught our attention, and before I could tell what was happening, her shadowy arm extended out, swiping at a nearby bush.
And then all hell broke loose.
Like releasing an incineroar into a ring match, a hoard of pokemon sprang into the town. From behind the bushes, from the trees, from atop the Po Town wall, a swarm of pokemon with glowing eyes descended on the Team Skull hideout, groaning and screeching and cawing.
More grunts came outside, probably wondering what the commotion was, and I raced to my feet, Glitch safely in my arms. They released their pokemon, and looked around in confusion.
From behind Gladion, a bewear stalked forward, ready to strike. With a gasp, I shuffled Glitch to sit on my shoulder, and tugged the boy forward by the collar of his hoodie. Bewear's arm swung past in a blur, the air from it ruffling Gladion's hair. His eyes widened in shock, breath coming out in quick puffs.
I reached for his sleeve and tugged him forward, Pixel following behind us after sending a group of rocks hurtling toward the pokemon. Before us, the imposing pokemon attacked indiscriminately, and screams could be heard all around as trainers were struck by moves normally meant for the more defensive pokemon they tamed.
Once I was certain we were far enough away we could assess the situation, I stopped running, with Gladion coming to a halt a few feet ahead of me.
"What the hell?" He hissed, hand covering his one eye, the other holding his elbow. With a flick of his wrist, his hand grabbed a pokeball and released a beast of a pokemon. A large, copper-like helmet sat on the quadruped's head, the rest of its limbs an alien assortment. It didn't seem real. I wanted to ask what exactly it was, but it would have to wait.
There was no more than a dozen pokemon out for the kill, but they were using underhanded tactics, and seemed to be in an insatiable rage. Galdion's pokemon charged forward, attacking whatever came close to us.
"Pixel, use stealth rock around the other grunts!" I called out. Pixel chimed in acknowledgement and floated off, doing what it could to protect my teammates. Glitch jumped from off of my shoulder, waving around her shadowy limbs dramatically at any pokemon Gladion's partner couldn't get to.
More grunts came out to help, their pokemon backing up whoever needed it. The bewear from before raced towards us once again, but this time we were prepared.
"Null, use crush claw!" The beast leapt forward, raising its talons towards the bewear, then striking down. It cried out in pain as Null jumped back, safely avoiding a hammer arm.
From my right, a cold wind made me shiver. It dug into my skin, and I yelped and jumped back, eyeing my now ice-bitten bare arm. Glitch ticked wildly, then sunk into the ground, racing towards whatever attacked me in the shadows. A mass of white was flung forward soon after, and an Alolan vulpix fell face-first into the pavement. The vulpix stood up soon after, dodging a wood hammer from Glitch. The ice type turned around and aimed another icy wind at me, which would have hit if Gladion didn't tug me towards him.
"Pay attention," he barked before his eyes turned back toward Null. I shot him a glare, annoyed by his haughty attitude, then focused back on Glitch and the vulpix.
"Shadow sneak, Glitch!" She sunk back into the ground, racing towards the vulpix. With a well-timed jump, Glitch slammed herself against the vulpix, sending the ice type flying once again. Glitch rotated between shadow sneaks and wood hammers, wearing down the vulpix as it tried to fight back.
Seeing as it was ready to faint, I pulled an empty pokeball off my belt, and flung it at the wild pokemon. The vulpix was absorbed in red light, and the ball fell to the ground, rocking back and forth wildly. It clicked - once, twice, three times - and then a final 'ding' signalled the vulpix was caught.
A sigh passed my lips as Glitch carried the pokeball back to me, and I picked her and the contraption up gratefully. A quick look around suggested that the other wild pokemon had been defeated or captured, and I smiled to myself in relief.
Gladion called Null back beside him and moved in front of me, hands on his hips and expression stern. "We need to do something with the pokemon that just attacked us." I shrugged, rolling my eyes.
"What would you like me to do about it? I'm just a grunt!" I pouted, glaring at him once again. His glare matched my own, and I shrank back a few steps. "We might have some cages lying around, though I hate to admit it." I shuffled my feet, looking everywhere but at the glaring guy before me. My hand instinctively went to the plastic bracelets around my wrist, and fiddled with them mindlessly.
"Well, then? Let's move. Lead the way."
I sighed once again, heading in the direction of the cages.
With the help of the grunts that weren't injured in the battle, we successfully locked up the malicious pokemon until we knew what to do with them. I stood in front of the cages, chin in my hand, thinking of any possible reason they could have attacked.
Mind you, didn't Frey say earlier that there had been reports of this very thing happening? I hummed, nibbling my lip. Why would pokemon go out of their way to organize an attack against a group of people?
... Team Skull wasn't the best thing around, but we weren't terrible to pokemon like groups from other regions.
Footsteps echoed from behind, and then Gladion came to a stop beside me. "Apparently this isn't the first incident," he confirmed, hand once again on his hip. I shrugged, not knowing what to reply with.
"Is it a disease or something?" I asked, gears slowly turning in my head.
"Maybe."
"Then we should go to a professor and see if they know anything... right?" At this point I was just talking to myself. But going to a professor made the most sense - after all, they were experts on pokemon. "I'm pretty certain I use to live by one," I added quietly. "Yeah. Kukui. He should know."
Without waiting for a reply from Gladion, I turned around, ready to pack for my impromptu trip back to Melemele.
"Where are you going?" His voice called out as I began to walk away. His footsteps raced after mine, and I groaned loudly.
"Grabbing my shit and going to find a professor!" I called back at him, entering the house I shared with Effie and the others. Gladion swore as I slammed the door in his face, and I couldn't help but giggle at his exasperation.
The door creaked open once more, and his steps slammed against the tile as his long strides caught up to me. "I'm coming with you," he stated, arms crossed as I looked at him over my shoulder.
"Only if you don't act like this the whole time," I replied, gesturing to him in a wide arc. "Now let me grab my shit in peace."
Another door slam, and I was back in my dark room.