Have you ever taken a hard jog down and forget to bring some water without a convenience store, vending machine or just any semblance of thirst-quenching liquid for miles? That's my throat right now. Dry as a desert, in a hospital bed, even when I had forced myself to drink some water despite the discomfort in the mere act swallowing and the thirst refuses to leave me be.
"Can we come in, Io?" A voice that just emits warmth and kindness interrupts my constant focus on my throat slowly made sit up from my bed just to see who it was. At the door, Nurse Joy was there with Tara all bandaged up in her arms. I nodded and gestured for her to come closer, she approached the bedside and gently lowers Tara right next to me.
"Will she be okay?" I asked while on reflex I took Tara into my arms and gently rested her onto my lap.
"I don't recommend she partake in battles for at least three days. It seems a little much but one can't be too sure. Now I have to going now, the Pokémon Center is extremely busy trying to care not only for the Pokémon that belong to their trainers but the wild Pokémon that got affected too." With a cordial bow, she leaves the room leaving me with Tara.
There was a lot to take in now that my trusted partner is here with me. The dejection, the shame, and the dishonor grew every time I look at the bandages.
"I'm sorry so Tara," I began "I was a fool. There was no way you and Gus could have taken on that Houndoom knowing how big of a gap the level difference there was between the three of you. I know you wanted to fight - win if it was within our grasp - but I'm not good enough of a trainer yet. Stalling was the only option I had and it frustrated me to no end!"
"Tar!" Tara pats my chest and looks up to me reassuringly. Even raising her paws and swinging them downwards to her body in a fist bump to show me that we will triumph the next time it happens.
"Of course! Since when have I ever been known to be a quitter?" I nodded.
"I told you that they should have amped up the security and no I don't any of you to apologize! If you're the police get out there and start tracking those criminals before one of you accidentally ends up with their head stuck between my Klingklang's gears!"
I could hear Ozma barking out demands to the police right outside in the hall. She's the Gym Leader here in Lustereal and she has obligations to aid security if need be and it sounds like she already anticipated something like this would happen. The situation escalated so fast that it caught everyone off guard that she had to multitask in trying to stop the Apex Corps from stealing the machine and saving the civilians which by default would be her priority.
"Oh my Arceus, Io…!" She comes into the room and I winced from her suddenly breaking into a hug and touching my face like a worried mother whose child was wounded.
"Ozma I'm fine-"
"You are not! Second degree burns, nearly losing your sight, almost losing your life. All of this when I told you and Callisto to stay out trouble?!" Ozma had cut me off and I had no way to justify my actions. What I did was out of a virtuous sense of duty to stop the bad guy and I dragged my best friend along for the joy ride.
"How's Cal?" I said in an attempt to avoid any further subject of my well being.
The Gym Leader had begun to cool down and took a seat in a chair that was right next to the bed.
"He is in a similar situation to you. I've been told you both will be discharged this afternoon and this is really wonderful news… But why didn't you listen to me?" She goes back to the previous subject with even more insistence than before "Is it because I am not like your parents-"
"Ozma!" I stop her and I look at her pleadingly "Please don't go there… What happened is my fault and it has nothing do with you being a bad legal guardian. I just wanted to be of help to you..."
"I-I see…"
That was the only reply she could give and I won't hold against for being unable to find a reply to that. Our age -she was 25 and I was 13 years old as of this year- wasn't a factor when it came to us getting along and by now I had already accepted that my parents died in the S.S Pantheon when it exploded during its return trip from Orre. I wasn't alone in this because there were others like me who shared this loss. It was for a great cause to improve Valeo they said. Such quotes just sugar coat the incident
There were survivors despite the heavy casualties sure and the knowledge that's supposed come with it made it back to Valeo as well but it felt so fruitless when my family wasn't going to return along with it. It's just an empty achievement that holds no meaning to me. Some may feel proud, some will never accept it that those deaths ever occurred but I know where I stand and it will be tough to convince me otherwise.
Now Ozma was a great friend to my mother and swore she would care for me if anything should happen to her and my dad. She just didn't expect her time would come so fast. But you know what? She may have been right that I really don't treat her like my parents, she may also be right in assuming I didn't listen because she isn't like a parent to me. But again so what? It doesn't change the fact she is; currently, my family and I want to make her proud.
"Io, tomorrow was supposed to be the day you leave on your journey but now I really do believe you should focus more on recovering. The Apex Corps could have killed you if you weren't just a child and it was fortunate that they exclusively came to execute a theft plan. They can't risk ruining the machine." Ozma continued "Their organization only cares about stealing and creating the strongest Pokémon because it is their belief that only the strong can stand at the top while ignoring the responsibilities that come with it. No matter the cost and the losses it may bring."
"Then… Does that mean that machine was meant for that? To make them stronger?"
"Not just stronger. It breaks their limits." I had been answered not by Ozma but by a male wearing a scientist robe, small square red sunglasses in a golden frame that complimented his brushed backwards brunette hair, brown pants to go with his mint green dress shirt, black loafers shoes and a black belt with a gold buckle to hold it together. The forest green satchel is nice too. It's almost like he came out of a botanical garden.
This man was Prof. Cedar himself whom I assume was also going to be part of the reveal back at the Memorial Gardens. Was he eavesdropping on us? No, I realized then that the door was open this whole time! Cedar even slowly closes it when he comes in just to demonstrate we weren't exactly being subtle.
"This will be a lot to take in but I will do my best to keep it brief." he settles down his satchel into the corner of the room "The machine is called the Super Evolving Experience Diffusor or the S.E.E.D; as its name implies, it's intended to increase the growth rate beyond that of conventional training methods and take Pokémon raising to a whole new level. I was familiarizing myself with the research papers and found something alarming that could turn this into a national crisis if we let this go by."
"What are you expecting, professor?" Ozma urged him to continue. I could only just sit and hear as the situation that I thought was just bad had gone to worse.
"The Shadow Pokémon incident that bore ruthless fighting machines in Orre caused by Cipher, the Gigaremo units that use hypnotism in Almia by Team Dim Sun and the accelerated evolution radio frequency used by Team Rocket in forcing Magikarp to evolve into Gyarados in Johto. The S.E.E.D can be fine-tuned to do all these things at once and make even the most harmless of Pokémon a lethal weapon. All the documents they had used in the creation of the machine contain the same research papers as those done by criminal organizations."
"But weren't those assets destroyed?! I can't believe someone would be sane enough to back up that sort of data after what that type of knowledge had done to their respective regions..." the Gym Leader grew anxious at the prospect that the Valeo region was plummeting into a dark age where the Apex Corps can not only make their Pokémon even stronger than ever before but even wild Pokémon can easily be targeted for their agenda of proving they are only needed to stand at the top.
"Indeed. Rather than the methods of weakening the populace by utilizing their guilt and empathy to release their Pokémon like that of Team Plasma, the Apex Corps are very much willing to prove their authority by force, fear, and being made an example of. Io… I am glad it was fear that they tried to inflict on you."
The professor's words felt heavy on my chest as I am reminded once more that being killed is most definitely an option for anyone in the Apex Corps. If at that time Callisto and I did pose an immediate threat we would have returned here as a pile of burnt corpses alongside our deceased Pokémon.
"Here, Io these are the photos of the Apex Corp in their uniforms. The generic looking ones are Troopers or the grunts and the ones that stand out and have a different uniform are the Enforcers or the admins. Can you recognize which of them was present? They are also some that were taken during the skirmish today, despite the quality you can vaguely tell who they are if its the Enforcers." Prof. Cedar takes out these so-called images from within his coat an has me see through them.
Typical Troopers wore heavy full body uniforms with what I can guess is short waterproof ponchos that allowed them to hid their faces and outfitted with thick boots and gloves that had a scale finish. The colors contrasted in shades of brown like that of ocean sands except for the stand out crimson red color of the letter A on their front torso with a design intended for it to look like it was slashed into place from being attacked by a creature with its claws. Flicking past the photos I come to stop one as I immediately recognized who it was and one I intend to never forget.
"This one is Lupin." I drew my finger and tapped on the figure. Indeed he stood out amongst his troopers with color schemes that made him look like a Houndoom with horns on his poncho and all.
"Then we now have a name for the Enforcer who deals with theft thanks to you. I'm sure it will make investigations go smoother." Prof. Cedar assured me "Ozma now that we have this sorted I do believe I need your aid for this part."
"I'll get in touch with Brent in Empyre City and the other leaders." Ozma, before she departs with Cedar, leans into my room one last time "Please Io, just stay and rest."
Once more it was just me and Tara with a room all to ourselves. She and I gave each other the same look we always did gave to one another when we know what needed to be done. Call me selfish and rash but if I don't go on my way now -even if the people I know are stronger than me- it won't feel right to depend on them when I can be like strong like Ozma.
"Tara, we're going to amass the 8 Gym Badges. It's the fastest way I can think of to get stronger. We won't just win. We'll crush them." I clenched my fists into the bed sheets, my resolve now unyielding, no matter what doubts plague me. I'm sorry, Ozma, this will be the last time I lie to your face.
Before daybreak, Tara and I are raiding Prof. Cedar's Pokémon Lab for there is a PokéDex and some Poké Balls that need to be stolen.
A/N
My goodness, that felt like a marathon. I respect anyone
All rights to the Pokémon franchise does not belong to me in any way or form. The only thing that is original is the ideas and some characters that I present to you in the story.
Pokémon has always been something I've always wanted to write a FanFiction for since high school and I honed myself by getting critiques from friends at university until then to come to this point. I will always be thankful to them in taking the time to indulge in the shenanigans that I had cooking up.
The inspiration for the story is from the spin-off games Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon: XD Gale of Darkness and an amalgamation of the many movies that have come out that will be incorporated bit by bit as the plot unfolds.
If you got the time to give me some Feedback and Suggestions, I would welcome them openly.
Also, I'd like to add that if literally 90% of Feedback is just one big autocorrect I can't really improve -narrative wise- if it's just a grammar lesson to make it seem prettier. Nonetheless, I acknowledge it is an important part process and I'll work hard on that aspect, I promise.
Just give me a shout if I am lacking in descriptions, making it too jumbled together, the progress is too slow, etc.
So give me a knock on the Comments and don't forget to Favorite it to stay notified on updates. Until the next one everyone.