Diplomacy
Ripples crossed the placid lake and specks of light danced silently across the water. Below the waves slid silvery creatures, their features obscured but their silhouettes no less evident beneath. The melodic sound of the water against the shore was accented by the sharp yet quiet echo of kricketot chirping that enveloped the lake. This, Lance thought, was the Dragon's Den as only he knew it.
Sprawled out lazily on the beach he rested his head on his hands, gazing skyward. He yawned and blinked, the stars blinking back. This was a perfect moment, a beautiful moment. A moment as pleasing as the rush of a fierce battle, yet somehow distinct and opposite in its beauty.
His eyes closed, his mind began to drift away with the soft sounds of the Den. Before he could be overtaken by his weariness however, a thrashing noise arose from the water. He bolted upright, seeking the source of the sound. Shaded figures splashed about closer to the shrine, he jogged towards them, his cape rustling in the still night air.
Lance discovered a small swarm of dratini twisting through the shallow water. They danced beneath the sparkling stars, locked in a contest of strength. It appeared as though one of the creatures was antagonizing the others, engaging three of its equals despite their attempts to slither away. Wrapping itself around its opponents the small dratini trashed and whipped itself into a frenzy, unwilling to relent.
Reaching to his belt Lance retrieved a pokeball; quietly he called forth his dragonite, the powerful beast appearing in a flash of red and hovering beside him. All of the dratini turned and froze with awe, each fleeing quickly save for the sole aggressor. The brazen dratini poked its head above the water, staring down the imposing evolved pokemon. Lance's expression lightened in amusement, and his lips curved into a smirk.
"Be gentle." He commanded softly to his companion.
With great speed the dragonite dove downward, scooping up the dratini in its horns and flinging it towards shore. Lance walked across the beach towards the small creature, watching as it wriggled defiantly attempting to reach the water. Lance tossed a pokeball which bounced off the dratini, enveloping it in a red light and pulling it inside.
The ball shook violently about on the ground for a minute as Lance watched bemused. Eventually the pokeball became still, only then did he approach and pluck it from the ground.
"I'll make you stronger." He whispered to the pokeball before slipping it into his belt.
The landscape blurred as though it were being realized by the broad strokes of an impressionist painting. The magnet train whizzed along the track swiftly; Lance appreciated the speed but regretted the missing opportunity to admire the scenery. He resolved to make his return trip aloft with his dragonite should he find the time.
Freeing himself from his wandering thoughts, Lance returned his attention to the nature of his excursion. Today he wore plain clothes to avoid the unneeded attention of being immediately recognizable. A simple white t-shirt, jeans and a jacket along with a pair of sunglasses and a sports cap to hide his fiery hair.
Looking away from the window he noticed an attendant passing through the aisle wheeling a cart of refreshments, taking the opportunity to call out to her.
"Excuse me. Do you have a copy of the Almia Times?" He asked.
The attendant paused and looked at him blankly. "I'm sorry sir. The what?"
"The Almia Times?" He repeated. "That's what it's called right?"
"I, uhm, I don't believe so, sir. I'm sorry." The attendant wheeled her cart away and Lance's gaze returned to the back of the seat in front of him.
The electronic notifier chimed throughout the train, the final destination of Saffron City was fast approaching. Lance gathered his few personal effects together and stood as the train came to a stop. The passengers flooded out onto the terminal and Lance made for the exit, weaving through the crowd. As he reached the gate another man bumped into him.
"Sorry." They both said quickly before hurrying off in their respective directions.
The sun was oppressively bright and Lance was thankful for bringing sunglasses. Saffron City bustled with foot-traffic, shoppers taking advantage of the weather and coalescing along the street. Lance admired the colourful signs and shameless billboards, aware he lacked the time to peruse any of the stores. Instead he made for the end of the street, turning a few corners before reaching a modest cafe where a few scattered patrons sat at tables drinking coffee, talking or watching computer screens away from most of the crowds.
Lance spotted a woman he recognized sitting alone at a table on the patio. She looked proper and professional in her suit jacket and pencil skirt, and he felt rather under-dressed looking at her. Lance noticed a castform resting drowsily on her shoulder, snuggling its head into her neck.
"Am I late?" He asked, pulling a chair out from the small table and sitting down.
"I'm only half way done my coffee. This is a first for me you know, having an important meeting outside a coffee shop." The woman smiled extending her hand. "Camilla Rey. You would be mister..."
"Call me Lance. Good to meet you Camilla, I hope Kanto is treating you well."
Camilla shrugged, stirring the castform on her shoulder. "Haven't had the time to enjoy it. I've only been sitting here, watching those poor things have a go at each other for a half-hour or so."
Camilla motioned towards the pre-school across the street, young children were running about in the yard with their pokemon behind the mesh fence. Close the fence however, a pair of young boys were engaged in a pokemon battle, a rattata on one side and a pidgey on the other.
"Their just kids." Lance affirmed heartily. "You're never too young to enjoy a pokemon battle."
"Never too young, Mr. Lance?" Camilla looked at him disheartened and pointed towards the youngsters again with her thumb. "I was just thinking how I hope I'll never be so old and jaded to find two poor pokemon nipping at each other to the point of exhaustion anything less than repulsive."
Lance looked back at the battle. The pokemon appeared tired and slow, lurching towards one another and swaying uneasily on their feet. Both of the pre-schoolers yelled and screamed at their pokemon, urging them to carry on.
"Get him Killer!" One boy cried out.
"Beat him up Megabird!" The other replied.
There was a prolonged silence as Lance blinked in surprise.
"Yeah, well uh... anyway, you did come all the way from the Ranger Union to see me so I'll try not to keep you too long. You said over the phone that a few of our trainers crossed into Almia and were trying to capture pokemon?"
"Yes, that's the gist of it." Camilla said, taking a sip of her coffee. "They were poaching pokemon on our side of the border. We've detained them in Boyleland and have them ready to send back here as soon as we can."
"Poaching? I hadn't heard that, what were they doing exactly?"
"As you said Mr. Lance. Trying to capture pokemon."
"That is what trainers do, Camilla. I mean, if catching a pokemon were illegal then everyone in this city would be a criminal."
"What are your laws on pokemon capture?" Camilla asked from behind her coffee cup as she took another drink.
"We handle most laws municipally, Camilla. I don't believe there are any laws against catching things, though I do know there are laws about selling pokemon for profit. It really depends where you are though." Lance shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"How would you go about changing that?" Camilla asked bluntly, her castform leering at Lance. "I'm sorry, I was told that as Champion you had some power over these things."
Lance nodded and spoke to her gravely. "The role of the Champion is mostly symbolic, Camilla. People idealize me and I do my best to inspire them to do great things. I think it would be for the best if the role of Champion did not become an overtly political one. I'm here today representing the G-Men, not as the Champion for Kanto and Johto."
"Alright." Camilla finished her coffee. "Isn't there anything the Government Men can do?"
"We like to keep our federal laws sparse and simple." Lance replied. "Don't kill, don't steal, et cetera. They rarely get changed and to be honest I don't entirely agree with your beliefs on the subject of pokemon capture anyway."
"How many times have you watched your pokemon be beaten unconscious, Mr. Lance?" She snapped. "And for what? Entertainment? To prove you could raise a pokemon who was most effective at hurting other pokemon? If not for you, wouldn't they be happier?"
Camilla seemed as though she planned to continue but Lance cut her off. "Camilla, you don't get as far as I have without considering the ethical implications. I am secure in my opinions and I respect yours. Can we get back to business?"
Camilla sighed. "I'm sorry, Mr. Lance."
"You have nothing to be sorry for. It must be hard believing in that sort of thing and coming to a place like this. I don't always like it either."
Lance poked his thumb towards the pre-school where the pair of dueling pokemon were slumped against each other bruised and unconscious, their young trainers still yelling at them.
Lance continued. "About the trainers who crossed into Almia, I'll speak with them personally when they come back. I'll look into preventing this from happening again."
"I suppose that is the most I could ask for." Camilla stood from her seat and slid a file folder onto the table. "Here is the paperwork, Almia is requesting that you cover the cost of transportation."
"Not a problem." He extended one hand while using the other to slip the file into his pocket. "It was good meeting you Camilla, I hope I get the chance to work with you again."
Camilla smiled, her expression reflected on the face of her castform. "Hopefully next time we meet it will be about something better."
Lance nodded as Camilla turned and walked away from the patio. As she disappeared from sight he heaved a heavy sigh of relief, exasperated from the exchange they had shared. Reaching to his belt he search for the pokeball of his dragonite. As his fingers thumbed over the familiar shapes he noticed one of his pokeballs was missing.
It was the dratini.
His expression froze in horror. It must have been the man who bumped into him he imagined, but he could be all the way to Goldenrod by now. Sprinting from the coffee shop he darted through the swelling crowds in the direction of the magnet train station. People yelped and grumbled as he passed them although Lance paid it no heed, his mind racing with thoughts of where the poor dratini may be by now.
As he reached the gate to the station he could see that the train was about to leave. It would be another dozen or so minutes before the next train arrived, time Lance found himself unwilling to waste. He flashed his pass to the guards as he vaulted over the check in gate. The guards yelled to him and gave chase as Lance sprinted for the train. People tried to block him but he managed to slip past them, as he saw the door begin to close one man managed to trip him up, sending him flying through the air.
Lance crashed against the inside wall of the train car, the door sliding securely shut behind him. As the guards reached the train it was already beginning to move, and Lance turned in time to see their furious expressions disappear from view. Collecting himself and rising to his feet he noticed the other passengers gawking at him in stunned silence.
Grinning nervously he spouted the first lie that came to mind. "That's the last time I wait to buy Marsha's anniversary gift!"
A few of the passengers shrugged it off and returned to their business, while others looked at him skeptically and mumbled to themselves. Lance quickly searched out an empty seat near the back and sat himself down. He gazed out the window longingly, for whatever reason the landscape didn't seem to blur by nearly fast enough this time.
As the warning bell chimed and the train pulled into the station, passengers clambered towards the exits. Lance elected not to fight through the crowd, the few seconds spared wouldn't be worth the trouble. As he stepped out into the terminal he noticed Officer Jenny standing nearby with her growlithe, she immediately marched up to him and Lance pulled off his cap and sunglasses.
"Champion Lance!" She gasped. "Wh-what is going on here!"
"Officer." He began hurriedly. "This is an emergency, one of my pokemon have been stolen. Do you have any idea where someone would take a stolen pokemon in this city?"
Officer Jenny paused and thought. "We've suspected for some time that there might be a group selling stolen pokemon down in the Goldenrod Tunnel. I can't tell you everything, but we were hoping to bust them in the next week or two once the paperwork came through."
Lance looked at her earnestly. "Tell me where they are!"
"I can't let you just burst in there without a warrant!" Jenny looked around frantically at the crowd of people before pulling Lance close and whispering. "I'm sorry Lance, but if they find out I let you go in there my neck would be on the line, all the criminals could get off too."
"I'll deal with the fallout if that happens," said Lance. "I cannot afford to wait. As far as I'm concerned, I never spoke to you. Alright?"
Jenny considered his proposal for a moment before finally whispering back. "You can find them next to the haircut brothers in the tunnel. There is a locked wooden door, they should be inside. Be careful, I'll show up shortly after you go in."
"Thanks, Jenny." Lance smiled warmly before running off in the direction of the tunnel.
Goldenrod was thankfully less busy than its counterpart Saffron City. As Lance entered the tunnel he was able to walk down the escalator and while each of the storefronts appeared well populated the number of people paled in comparison to the streets of Saffron.
The Goldenrod Tunnel was still bright and vibrant even as the afternoon wore on. Sunlight poured in from the skylights above and the storefronts barraged customers with flashy signs announcing bold low prices. The smell of fast food blended with the sound of echoing voices and feet tapping on the tile floor, nothing seemed amiss.
Lance searched with his eyes for the parlor of the haircut brothers, jogging through the thin crowd towards a sign he saw for the store. Once outside the parlor he stopped, scanning the area for the locked wooden door. After a moment he discovered it a good ten feet away from the storefronts on either side, inconspicuously located in its own little alcove.
Looking at the door Lance wondered what to do. He tried knocking first, and a tiny window immediately slid open in the door at eye level, two dreary eyes staring out at him. After only a second the window slid shut and no further sound came from inside. Lance waited a good moment before reaching for his belt, unclipping a pokeball and calling forth his dragonite.
There were a few yelps and gasps from nearby shoppers and the murmur of their voices quickly filled the air. Lance paid them no heed beyond noting that they were far enough away to be safe.
"Please open the door, Dragonite," he said.
His dragonite grunted in acknowledgment, pulling back its fist and slamming it into the door. The creature's fist stuck through the door and when it retracted its arm the door came with it, pulled off its hinges.
Lance wasted no time and barreled inside. As he entered he noticed a man in a dark hoodie fleeing to the back room. A quick survey of the dark room revealed large plastic tubs full of pokeballs and a few cages strewn about on the ground with some smaller pokemon whimpering inside.
Charging after the retreating poacher Lance chased him to the dimly lit back room. Here another similarly dressed man sat at a table with a look of shock plastered all over his face. A third man was kneeling above a small pokemon in the corner, wires and nodes attaching the poor creature to some electronic device. There was a millisecond of stunned silence shared between the four men before the poacher whom Lance had followed into the room swiped up a handgun that had been laying on the table, turning to aim it at Lance.
Lance seized the man by the throat, forcefully slamming him to the ground. The gun flew from the poacher's grip and slid across the floor. The kneeling man running to retrieve it. Lance turned to chase him but was struck by the man standing up from the table. They grappled for a moment before Lance shoved him back, sending him sprawling to the ground with a kick to the face.
Turning to face the final man, Lance discovered him pointing the gun towards him. Lance raised his hands defensively, and closed his eyes. Before the poacher could fire a shot the wall facing the tunnel exploded into a cloud of flying debris and dust. Once the dust cloud dispersed Lance's dragonite was standing between the two.
Lance let out a deep breath while holding his forehead in exasperation, calling out to the poacher.
"You should really put the gun down," Lance said candidly.
The dragonite snorted and smoke rose to the ceiling. A moment later Lance heard the clang of the pistol being dropped by the gunman on the opposite side of his pokemon. Stepping around the pokemon, Lance walked over to the man and retrieved the dropped gun, just as Officer Jenny arrived through the door.
"Lance!" She called out, her view obscured by the large creature taking up most of the room. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes!" Lance responded, stepping over a few pieces of the smashed wall to hand her the gun. He then held out a pokeball and recalled his pokemon. "Dragonite, return."
The two poachers on the ground groaned and slowly rose to their feet, holding their hands above their heads and walking towards Jenny quietly. Lance ran toward the poor pokemon on the ground and to his horror discovered his once feisty dratini.
The creature was bruised and bleeding, staring meekly up at him and curling into a ball. Lance carefully pulled the electrical nodes from its body, glancing at the device on the floor. He recognized it immediately, a device for forcing evolution. Discovering the dratini's pokeball sitting on the ground nearby Lance returned the dratini inside it and turned to Officer Jenny.
"Where's the nearest Pokemon Center?"
The night was overcast, the sparkling stars obscured by the foreboding dark clouds that hung in the sky. Only the pale light of the moon shone through the sullen clouds, defying their efforts to hide it. Tonight there was no chirping of kricketots, no soft lapping of the water against the shore, instead the only sound was the wind whipping through the trees and churning the once placid water into choppy waves.
Lance stood silently on the shore of the lake, staring out at the shrine in contemplation. After a moment he plucked a pokeball from his belt holding it up and summoning forth the creature within. The small dratini appeared on the edge of the shore in a flash of red light, curling itself into a circle and looking weakly up at the man.
Kneeling above the pokemon Lance reached out and tugged on the edge of the bandage covering the midsection of its body. Slowly he peeled the bandage away, revealing a number of closed scars seared into the creature's flesh. The dratini wriggled defiantly, the water pulsing in and out onto the shore where it lay.
Once the bandage was fully removed Lance dropped it onto the beach behind him. He sat before the small pokemon and watched it sadly. The once lively dratini returned his gaze, looking sullen and defeated as it lay still on the beach. Lance reached out to pet the dratini only for it to wince and coil into itself.
Lance heaved a sigh and retracted his hand, the small creature looking back at him. A phrase he had heard that afternoon echoed loudly in his mind and he spoke it.
"If not for me, wouldn't you be happier?"