A/N: So this is my first story...don't really know what to say. But I hope you enjoy it!
Headline of the Pokégazette
First Pokémon Killer in a Decade Declared Not Guilty by Reason of Temporary Insanity
By Cassidy Whitehall
That's right citizens of Johto! You've heard it here first. The first Pokémon to kill another Pokémon in a decade was found not guilty due to temporary Insanity. The Pokémon League released this statement after the trial:
We, the Pokémon League, hereby declare that the Stantler known as "Bash" to be guilty of involuntary Pokéslaugter after his trainer, Defendant Cool trainer Rebecca, repeatedly ordered "Bash" to attack with a Rage attack. The Stantler "Bash" will not be put down, but instead will be incarcerated until such a time that a trainer is willing to adopt him and rehabilitate him. Before incarceration, "Bash" will be visited by Move Deleter Henry Williams, and the offending move, "Rage", shall be removed from his memory. "Bash" will also be on probation until such a time that he has proven beyond a doubt that this tragic event will never occur again.
For those new reader's let me catch you up on what happened nearly two months ago. According to the records, Cool trainer Rebecca, had recently applied to be a member of Leader Whitney's Normal type gym. During one of her very first battles, she ordered her Stantler, nicknamed "Bash" to attack the gym challenger's Pokémon with Rage. What's that readers? Disbelief over a Stantler knowing rage? Well after a thorough investigation I have discovered correspondence between Cool trainer Rebecca and her parents regarding her gifted Stantler. Apparently Cool trainer Rebecca's parents are breeders in the Kalos Region. They are a small operation where they primarily breed herd Pokémon, such as Tauros, Bouffalant, and of course, Stantler. In one case of breeding a female Stantler was introduced to a male Bouffalant, and "Bash" was born. Apparently there is a rare chance that when these two Pokémon breed the resulting Pokémon could be a Stantler with the unheard of move, for its species, Rage.
An eyewitness that was present during the tragic match recalled, "She kept going after him (referring to the now deceased Raticate 'Chewy") She kept using rage, even though they were both normal types. After the fifth or sixth call of rage, "Bash" lost it. He started running around bashing into the wall of the field. If it wasn't for the fact that the Raticate drew his focus, I'm sure he would've left the walls and ran down the spectators."
After giving her statement the eyewitness broke down in tears, "I know that they don't normally have that move, but I don't think I'll ever be able to look at a Stantler the same way before I saw this match.
This reporter then went on to try and discover just why the Stantler went on this horrific rampage. After finding little to no evidence of Pokémon using this move and falling into a madness, I interviewed possibly the only one who would have any clues to this phenomenon, Professor Elm.
Cassidy: Professor Elm thank you for agreeing to talk to me about this unbelievable event.
Professor Elm: No, thank you for allowing me to help get the word out about this serious issue.
Cassidy: Oh? Has this ever happened before?
Professor Elm: No not to my knowledge, but I still believe that the public needs to be made aware of how this could have happened.
Cassidy: Well what do you think happened Professor?
Professor Elm: Quite frankly, Stantlers are not mentally able to handle the effects of the move Rage. And these types of mishmash moves and species are becoming far too common.
Cassidy: What do you mean he wasn't able to mentally handle it?
Professor Elm: When you look at all the moves a Stantler can naturally learn thanks to natural selection of its species, Stantlers tend to favor either pure physical moves that don't affect their emotional state or special moves that leave them in a calm state. It's only when we begin to teach them technical moves or breed them with compatible but ultimately different Pokémon species that these fundamentally different moves are introduced.
Cassidy: Are you saying that it's the breeders fault for selectively breeding these two Pokémon together and creating "Bash"?
Professor Elm: Not exactly. Breeding outside of species is a relatively new science, so there's bound to be consequences that are unknown to us. So far this is the only instance to come up where a new move was not helpful to a Pokémon in some way. But we can't ignore that Stantlers do not normally learn moves that cause anger. In fact when we look at some of the natural move lists we can see great examples such as Calm Mind, Zen Headbutt, and Hypnosis.
Cassidy: Well thank you Professor Elm for enlightening me and my readers on why the League would even consider allowing "Bash" a second chance.
Professor Elm: It was my pleasure Cassidy
There you have dear reader, straight from the Professors mouth. But there are still quite a few question left unanswered. Such as, where will the Stantler "Bash" be incarcerated? How will the League make sure that "Bash" will never kill again? How will they even find a trainer willing to take on a Pokémon proven to be insane, even if only temporarily? Will Cool trainer Rebecca be facing penalties as well for losing control of "Bash"? How will the world deal with knowing that selective breeding could possibly end up creating murderous Pokémon? Don't worry dear readers! I, Cassidy White will keep track of this case and scrounge through the media until I can provide definite answers for all these questions and more!
56…57…58…59…1:00. Feeding time.
"Bash? Are you ready? I brought you your lunch and a treat! Look Bash! A shiny, shiny apple!"
Oh Arceus, not the baby voice again. Seriously, you know how intelligent Pokémon are! You're a Giratini damned Pokémon Professor!
"Nyuff."
"I knew you'd want the apple Bash! You've such a very, very good boy. Yes you are. Yes you are." Cooed Professor Elm.
After placing Stantler's lunch on the floor, he walked over and held out the apple in his hand, ready for Stantler to take it.
I know I deserve to be punished after what I did, but really Arceus? This is how I'm going to spend the rest of my imprisonment?
Stantler continued to stare at Professor Elm, not quite willing to relinquish the little sliver of pride he managed to salvage after this whole mess.
Professor Elm began to notice Stantler's reluctance. However he misinterprets this as Stanlter not feeling well and not willing to eat.
"Aw Baaash, does your tummy hurt? Should I go get the thermometer?"
No!
"Nyuff!" Stantler quickly walks over to the Professor and begins to eat the apple.
"There we go Bashy! You've been such a good boy these past months. You really do deserve that treat. Plus Leader Sabrina says that your sessions with Alakazam are going really great. According to Alakazam you've made great progress with your therapy. The League is thinking about suspending the rest of you incarceration, and start working on finding you a new trainer.
Oh goody. According to that stupid Alakazam, I'm almost sane again. Yay…
"Nyuff Nyuff."
"I know right! It's going to be great! You'll see, the League will find you a nice trainer and we can get you back on track battling other Pokémon. Who knows maybe your new trainer will become a Champion!
Sure, let's put me back into situations where I could potentially kill another poor sod whose only crime was to be weaker than another Pokémon. I tell you this whole battling thing is a racket! What do we get out of the situation Hmmm? Besides the guilt of hurting our fellow Pokémon!
"Nyuuu nyuff."
"Well you'll just have to be patient. We'll find you someone soon. But first you need to finish your lunch. You have an appointment with Leader Sabrina and Alakazam in an hour. I'll come back for you then."
Professor Elm petted Stantler on the nose before he walked out of the secure room, locking the door behind him.
Stantler looks at the door and slowly turns around in his 64m3 room before heading to the pile of blankets he calls his bed. He settle downs and looks at the bowl of Pokéchow the Professor left him.
Great, now I have to deal with the lame-brain and his human. Just the perfect thing to ruin my appetite. Whatever, I ate the apple. That should hold me over 'til dinner.
Stantler curled up tighter before deciding that he deserved a nap before having to deal with the idiot that the League assigned as his Pokémon therapist.