The Story of a Rescue Team
Rated K+ for cartoon/fantasy violence, comic mischief, intense sequences of action/emotion, and the occasional use of legendaries' names as expletives
Premonition: The Madman
splitter splatter splitter splatter
The torrent of rain beat down, veiling the pitch-black nighttime sky even further into a wet, thick mess. A lone figure walked across the drenched plain, gleefully muttering to himself. And now, the tall, hooded man stood in front of me, grinning crazily and clutching a single Pokéball. His brown hair wildly curved in all sorts of directions, but his crazed eyes stared, transfixed directly toward mine. Two menacing red irises found their prey and gleefully targeted it.
"Look at you, trembling at your knees already," he grinned in savage joy. "What a failure, a spectacular failure! The look of resignation on your face... is absolutely delicious!... You dared to face me, and you have received your wish. Now it's my turn to receive my bargain of the deal."
Like he said, I just lost to him. All of my Pokémon, fainted in the space of five minutes. Not a battle, more like a precisely-calculated rampage engineered by him. Like a surging storm, one powerful move after another, his first Pokémon battered away my team with sheer force; nothing else was quite as powerful as that beast. Oh, what was I thinking? I didn't even dent his first one, and here I am, standing in a storm in the middle of nowhere, looking directly into the face of madness.
splitter splatter splitter splatter ker-CHEW!
A sneeze involuntarily escaped from me. Ugh, the rain. Stooping over me, his grin – the only thing visible at this ungodly hour – widened.
"What's the matter? Are you cold?" he asked in mock sympathy. The storm soaked every inch of me, leaving the wind to chill my body to the bone.
I could only muster two useless words.
"Shut up."
No fear at all, right?
"As charming as you've always been, Liam," he coldly replied, putting his free hand on my shoulder. There was no comfort, no laughing, no friendship like after any normal battle. I lost a battle to a hooded madman.
"What do you want?" I asked him, trying to avert my gaze from his crimson eyes, glowing with a vibe of insanity, a powerfully dark aura with the stench of evil - and a noticeable lack of deodorant. Disgusting.
"You already know, friend," he replied, suppressing a chuckle. The hooded man untied my green scarf, now a sopping mess of cloth wrapped around my neck, and took a contemplative look at it, studying the neckwear like how a Pokémon professor reads an ancient tome. I grimaced as he greedily tore it away with his strong claw-like hands, just as if he desired to abuse it. "I'm so glad you're still wearing this," he spat. "It's nice to know people who appreciate gifts like these. You know, maybe it's high time that I received a gift or memento like this from you."
"Thanks," I muttered to reciprocate his sincerity, "I'm glad you remember me too. You know, why don't I get you a present for your birthday too? How about a bar of soap or something, eh?"
The hooded god of madness peered over me, smiling and staring. "I've always adored your wit. Sharp, but adorable. And speaking of gifts and rememberances and repayment, that leaves us back to the original issue. You lost; I won. I receive my end of the deal. Isn't that right?"
I couldn't believe it. I was supposed to win. I had to. Especially against him. Agreeing to his "end of the deal" would be disastrous. But what was I thinking? Why did I have to challenge him? I knew I had no chance, but I did it anyway... a mistake that would definitely cost much more than my life.
He wiped away a smudge of mud from my sopping blonde hair and, for a moment, stooped down to look at me eye-to-eye.
But like a crazed, psychotic creature, he then immediately seized my throat with his rough hand. "What I want, my dear Liam, is only your completely unmitigated, absolute obedience. This time, you will obey. You will follow, and you will never dare to challenge me ever again. I am way too generous for my own good," he followed, tightening his grip around my neck. Urk; breathing got difficult. "So, to match the offer, will you return back with me this time?"
Crack!
A hot-white streak of lightning ripped across the sky, briefly flashing the air. In the brief moment I saw his lanky body tower over mine, the wretched aura of his presence overpowering my senses. A tumultuous clap of thunder shortly followed. The rain fell down and soaked me further.
I could never allow it to happen. Not in a million years- no, never. The living incarnation of evil - I would never fall to him!
In the storm his laughs bellowed mightily and eerily, dwarfing the furious claps of thunder. "HAHA! Kneel Liam, kneel!"
In a fit of anger, I pushed his hand and his lean body away with surprising force, knocking him back into a sloppy puddle of mud. I would never fall to evil!
As I shoved him into the cold ground, I yelled to him. "This should answer your question!" A small, yet long-needed, spark of pride filled me up as I watched him angrily mutter while getting up.
Unfortunately, this didn't seem to help my cause. Wait, he was laughing as he pulled himself up?
"Heh heh. I expected that. I knew you wouldn't immediately say yes. That's why I took the gracious liberty-," he grinned, ever so madly, while throwing his Pokéball into the air, "-of making you say yes. Liam, say hello to your contract enforcer," he cackled, showing just for a brief moment the glint of insanity in his eyes.
I looked up as the capsule released a white light of energy then let out the beast, the same one which single-handedly defeated my whole team.
"Ahaha! Liam, witness true power, right in front of your own eyes!" he laughed maniacally.
Out came the beast, a truly magnificent creature in all its wrath and glory.
"That's-!" I stuttered as I recognized it.
"Indeed, the same one which pummeled each and every one of your little Pokémon!"
"GWAAHOOOH!" it angrily roared, hovering beside its master and locking eyes directly at me. All my initial feelings of anger and pride and numbness melted away into pure fear.
"Hey there," I shook, "What-what'cha doing there? Nice weather we're having, right?"
"Silly Liam, you've had your chance. I've given you the option to join, and you refused. With our little agreement, this time I feel that it's quite necessary to enforce the honor code," he coolly remarked. His mad smile only widened as he stared more intently with those horrid crimson irises.
"Grrrrr," the beast muttered, staring at me and flapping its wings. It stared directly toward me; funny, it had those same red eyes as the hooded man. I really wished to hide myself right now. I wanted to run away...
"Enough talk," the hooded man sharply spoke. "You know full well that I'm a man of action and that I don't appreciate insubordination."
"As if- as if I even listened to you in the first place!" I yelled back, faltering.
He smiled then erupted in raucous laughter. "Haha! As charming as always!"
"Do your worst."
His initial surprise to that jumped right back into his usual smile. "As you wish, Liam," he replied before turning to the beast, "Now, use Dragon Claw!" he shouted.
Uh oh. Not good.
The beast roared, puffing and growling against the gale's cacophonous thunder before rushing at me with a glowing arm.
I didn't even have a chance to turn around and run before it-
Slash!
Collided its white-hot talons right into me, hooking with great, whalloping force then-
Thud!
-pummeling me into the ground. Pain, pain... ugh. My side wretched with raw, bleeding gashes from the impact of the Claw. The initial shock of the attack turned into burning agony as if a thousand knives punctured my body. The cruel hooks tore out a chunk of flesh, leaving a river of red liquid in its wake. Heh, my own blood. I clutched my neck as it bled, stinging and overloading my nerves with searing pain. Already, my consciousness began to ebb away...
I looked, vulnerable and seriously injured, at the face of the beast and its master from below. I clutched my bleeding side, knowing all too well my fate from here. Compress the wound, compress the wound. Make it stop for a bit.
"You have just witnessed true power in your own eyes! Tremble, O Liam, tremble at your weakness!"
"Ngh...no," I uttered. This couldn't be happening; it's too soon! If only I didn't make that mistake!
The hooded man towered over me. "Yes, yes. The agreement shall resume!" he grinned, "Come, I shall take you and-"
splitter splatter ptew
As he leaned over, I spit with all my force a glob of saliva into his savage grin. Take that, loser. Take that with you to your delightful journey to the underworld.
For a half-second, the smile broke into an angry frown, but it immediately rectified itself, this time with a more wretched demeanor.
"You know, in all your fourteen pitiful years of life, I have never witnessed such pointlessly blind arrogance from you. But very well," he calmly spoke. His malevolent aura seemed to emanate an even more horrid feeling when he wasn't cackling. "You seem to be too difficult to work with, but oh, you would have been such a fine partner!"
Arrogance?! What arrogance?! No; I'm standing up against evil! I'm doing the right thing!... right? But what went so wrong?
"I won't..."
"It's just too bad you refused to honor the deal. A terrible breach of contract, this is. Why, that's a grave violation of an agreement! Well now, there's a fine for that, and a hefty one too," he gleefully whistled, "So I'll be the one to enforce that as well. Honestly, even though you refuse to comply with our deal, I'll be looking forward to your punishment!"
"Why? Why are you doing this?" I asked, crying out of a forlorn hope.
This time, he didn't answer me; he only cackled into the dark storm, twitching his slender fingers and arching his back. I knew where this is going, grimly accepting fate's cold shoulder.
He turned to the beast, screaming, "Hyper beam, now!"
The beast raised its chest, exulting in front of the storm. Giant white veins streaked against the night sky, illuminating the monster and its master. The beast formed a great sphere of white-hot energy near its oranged head, charging up for the final blow. I watched helplessly as I lay on the muddy ground in a puddle of brown and red. This time, there was no running away or standing up. There was no escape..!
"I guess this is the end, isn't it? Haha, what a great day!" I chuckled to the heavens. A giant beam of light vaguely screamed across, racing toward my way.
I had a few split seconds to see him nod in quiet agreement. "A sad ending for such a promising child," the man quietly mused before he, the beast, the stormy sky, and the world became wrapped in a blinding veil of pure white.
Hello everyone; Reginald Classy-Duck here! Our story's an adaptation/novelization of the Red/Blue Rescue Team games (as stated in the summary) with a bit of a twist to the story. Thanks to everyone for sending me the invaluable reviews and constructive criticisms. I couldn't have done this without your input. Reviews and suggestions do help, so as always, please feel free to send one in - feel free to say anything you like!
Cover photo is from the Pokemon Card POP Series 6 version. Obviously I don't own any Nintendo franchise products like Pokemon. This is not a commercial use of their product(s).