Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.
Cover Art by: Zerochan923600 - zeroprostudio-dot-com.
Chapter 3: Heated Debate
All eyes in the lab turned when the front door slammed open. That included some lab assistants, an array of pokémon both local and exotic, Jason, Gizmo, and the pokémon researcher himself.
Out of all the things that could have been standing in that door frame, no one had been expecting a young red-haired boy to run in, visibly exhausted and hanging off of the door frame like his life depended on it.
"I am out of shape," the boy mumbled to himself.
A pikachu ran up to the boy, climbing up the length of the boy's body and stopping on his shoulder. The pokémon gave the boy a displeased look.
"Not a word, Blitz. Not a word," Cody huffed, standing up straight and scanning the small audience he had accidently gathered, and his eyes widened in surprise.
"Jason? What are you doing here?" The boy rolled his eyes with a smirk on his face, "and why are you still wearing your pyjamas?"
The scientists in the room changed their focus from Cody to Jason, who indeed was still dressed like he was about to go to bed. It was clear by looking at the scientists' faces that they were curious about the connection between the two boys.
Jason ignored all the extra attention, shrugging his shoulders before responding.
"I had an appointment with Professor Oak concerning excess pokémon partners," the pyjama clad boy explained, "after escorting you to Viridian, I didn't have much time left before the appointment, so I didn't have a chance to change."
Cody nodded in understanding, "makes sense, I guess."
"Now that that's sorted out," Professor Oak spoke in a stern voice, drawing everyone's attention, "why exactly are you here?"
Cody was too nervous to speak up, until the professor chuckled good-naturedly. Letting out a sigh of relief, Cody started to explain the situation.
"Two things, actually. Firstly," he reached into his bag while walking towards the older man, "special delivery from a market up in Viridian City."
"My, this is a surprise, you've saved these old bones a trip," Oak smiled when looking at the parcel. The Professor's expression quickly shifted as a thought occurred to him, "but why are you delivering this to me? You're much too young to be working, right?"
Jason cut in before Cody could answer, "why did you even go to the market? Wasn't your only concern making sure that the pikachu was okay?"
Cody and Blitz shared a look. The electric type nodded his head, and Cody turned his attention back to Professor Oak and Jason, "that's true, Jason. The lovely Nurse Joy examined Blitz here, and gave him a clean bill of health. In the nicest way possible," Cody rolled his eyes dismissively, while the lightning coloured pokémon on his shoulder shivered at the memory, "and after that, well, we got to talking. We agreed to travel together, but I needed a pokéball to 'catch' him," the boy said the word with some discomfort.
"And Cody forgot his trainer license," Blitz threw in, not expecting to be understood. He was mildly surprised when Jason nodded his head in response.
Cody sighed, "so, with all my choices heading to dead ends, I was sort of desperate. A cashier in Viridian said he'd give me a pokéball if I delivered this parcel. That's reason one."
Professor Oak nodded his head, a neutral smile on his face, "so, what's the second reason for this visit, Cody? Something on your mind?"
At that Cody's demeanour swiftly shifted. While before he had seemed merely tired, he now looked quite troubled. It was like he was going to panic attack at any moment.
Jason, who was usually a tad detached from other people noticed the shift instantly, "are you okay?"
Cody shook his head, "no, not really," the boy focused his worried look on Professor Oak, "the other reason I wanted to talk to you, professor, was because I talking to Blitz here, and..."
The boy stopped to look at pokémon on his shoulder, "is it okay for me to tell him what you told me?"
Blitz seemed to be distant, like his mind was miles away, "sure, tell him. What's the worst he could do?"
The eevee, Gizmo, spoke up with a blank look on his face, "do you have any idea who that is?"
"That's Professor Oak, an old man," electricity sparked from Blitz's cheek pouches menacingly, "and I can generate enough raw energy to power a small house. I repeat, what's the worst that he could do?"
Gizmo gave the electric type an offended look, but the argument between the two pokémon was stopped before it could get going when Cody and Jason gave their respective pokémon a look.
Cody looked back at Professor Oak, and let out a sigh, "okay, to cut a long story short, Blitz used to have a pokéball. He currently doesn't. When he did, these some of the troublesome effects," the boy took a calming breath, "firstly he seemed to be unnaturally friendly with his previous trainer, and secondly, if given an order, like 'don't move a muscle' he seemed physically compelled to follow the order. I'd never heard about anything like this before, so I was wondering if you could shed some light on this?"
The older man let out an uneasy laugh. He looked quite nervous at the news, "oh, that? Nothing to worry yourself about. Most pokéballs that are sold commercially come with mild anti-aggression and obedience subroutines built into them as a safety feature. Your pikachu was probably just surprised by its new-found aggression."
There was a silence in the lab that lasted about half a minute. It took that long for the professor's words to sink in.
"Mild anti-aggression?" Blitz was livid, his cheek pouches sparked threateningly, "I don't remember agreeing to anything like that!"
"Blitz took offense to that," Cody was uneasy while looking at Professor Oak, "you are aware that you've just described mind control, right?"
Professor Oak took a nervous step back, as the electric mouse's threat was clear despite the language barrier, before processing Cody's comment.
"It's not mind control!" The Professor shook his head in the negative, "the anti-aggression effect is only in place to stop pokémon from attacking their trainers," Oak shrugged his shoulders, "it's for your safety, you understand?"
Before either Cody or Blitz could respond to the Professor's words, Jason cut into the conversation.
"Professor?" The pyjama clad child waited until he had the group's attention, "You are too smart to be this stupid."
"I'm sorry," Oak was visibly taken aback, "did... did you just call me stupid?"
"Yes, it was the simplest description available," Jason nodded, "question Professor; are pokémon unable to harm their trainer? Without question?"
"Of course, that's why it's standard," Oak raised a brow wearily, "what are you getting at here?"
"Here's a hypothetical," Jason turned away from the professor. The boy started to pace back and forth through the lab, "every time a pokémon faints, that pokémon is punished. Punishments include; restricted food, repeated physical assaults, and denied access to Pokémon Centres..."
Professor Oak grew visibly more troubled as Jason went on, eventually looking extremely disturbed.
"I am shocked that you would suggest such a thing, Jason!" Oak shook his head, "where did you get such horrible ideas?"
Jason stopped pacing, turning to look at the group. Oak continued to look appalled, while Blitz was cautiously watching Jason, ready to attack at the first sign of explicit danger. Cody and Gizmo, on the other hand, didn't seem fazed by Jason's dark speech.
Jason shrugged, "television. Stories about pokémon abuse appears on the news occasionally," the boy shook his head, "horrible people. I always wondered why the pokémon didn't defend themselves. It didn't make sense to me. But," Jason cast sombre look towards Oak, "if pokémon lack the choice to freely attack, what stops trainers from assaulting them? Your description of standard pokéballs implies that pokémon are incapable of defending themselves in this context."
Jason coughed, "in short, you are far too smart to be this incredibly stupid. Please prove that statement false."
Oak blinked, taken aback by the boy's rant. He looked the two boys in the eyes, and what he saw in them made his stomach twist into knots. It was a desperate hope, a hope that there had been a misunderstanding between them. A moment passed, and Oak's face steeled itself.
"Although it's horrible to say, the situation as it stands is safer than the alternative," the knots twisted tighter as he saw that hope shatter, "I would recommend that you both learn to deal with that."
Jason raised a brow, "have you?"
There was a mild twitch in the Professor's eye. He then turned away from the two boys to collect himself.
Cody rolled his eyes, "dial back the guilt tripping, Jason."
"Too much?"
"A little," Cody nodded.
"I disagree," Blitz spoke up from Cody's shoulder, "sometimes you've gotta twist the knife a little."
"I'm just saying, I'd rather solve the problem than stand around here discussing it," Cody sighed, clearing his mind and thinking back through the recent conversations.
The boy's eyes lit up as a thought occurred to him, "professor, I'm curious about something."
The man sighed, "yes, Cody? What is it?"
"You said that most pokéballs had this 'subroutine'. So, that must mean that some pokéballs don't have this 'feature', right?"
The professor seemed to be debating something back and forth with himself, before ultimately letting out a sigh of defeat, "technically, there is such a thing. But those pokéballs are quite expensive, and they aren't sold in your general market place. You'd have to contact Silph Corporation directly, and even then, they won't sell them to you unless you have a research license," Oak looked up, apparently in deep thought, "I suppose you could also import them from Johto, a slight...cultural difference means that their pokéballs function differently, but the import costs would be quite high..."
"But to clarify," Jason cut the man off, "these pokéballs do not influence a pokémon's free will, right?"
Oak merely nodded. He spun around, so that he could search through the various draws behind him. He pulled out a small cardboard box, along with a handful of empty pokéballs, as evidenced by their black and white colouration.
"These are 'Behavioural Study' pokéballs," the professor took one out so he could show it to the boys, "you can tell because there is a small 'B' embellished on the bottom," true to his word, there was a 'B' on the black side of the pokéball.
"The original idea was that if research needed to be done on a rarer or foreign species of pokémon, these pokéballs could be used to transport pokémon, with no effect on the pokémon's natural behaviour. Now, I only have six of these, but I can see that this is a very serious issue for you two."
Oak handed three pokéballs each to both boys.
"Since a research license is required to purchase these pokéballs, you two will need to contact me if you want more. I'm sure we can work something out."
Cody looked down at the three balls in his hands, and he could feel his guts twisting. It was the answer to his personal issue, but they didn't change how he felt about the situation with the standard pokéballs. Most trainers used them without question, and the reality of it was too much for Cody to come to terms with in that moment.
The boy's focus shifted to the pokémon on his shoulder, who had started watching him intently. Blitz didn't seem as fazed by the situation as him, but the boy supposed that was because he hadn't learnt how to read Blitz's expressions yet.
"Stop worrying for a moment," Blitz whispered, perhaps so it wouldn't be overheard by Jason or Gizmo, "we'll talk about it later. And don't forget to breath."
Cody nodded, let out a breath he hadn't noticed he'd been holding. He looked over at Professor Oak, who's expression was unreadable to the child, "thank you for your time, professor. I think I need to go and... process this stuff."
Oak nodded, "that's understandable. Make sure to keep in touch, you two."
Both boys nodded, and swiftly left the laboratory.
After leaving professor Oak's lab the group of four gathered outside Jason's house. Jason had calmed down, and was trying to explain the implications of the situation to Gizmo, who wasn't really getting it.
Cody and Blitz, on the other hand, were sitting on the ground. They were staring at each other, neither knowing what to say.
Cody had the special pokéball in his hand. He stared at it intensely, and his mind went into overdrive. It was like taking everything he knew about the world and looking at it with new, jaded, eyes.
Blitz noticed this, and rolled his eyes. Cody was simple to read, and Blitz found the human's panic to be troublesome.
"I don't trust this," Blitz said, trying to get Cody's attention.
The boy blinked rapidly, as if he had just been pulled from a deep thought, "huh?"
"That." Blitz nodded towards the ball in Cody's palm. "Oak could've been lying, just trying to get rid of some weird kids," Blitz shrugged his shoulders, "I mean, it's what I'd do."
There was a dismissive scoff from behind Blitz, who's simultaneously felt a sting of annoyance. The electric mouse turned his head and saw an eevee giving him a condescending look.
"You got something you want to say?" Blitz snapped back, losing hold of his temper for a moment.
Gizmo rolled his eyes, "maybe you'd lie to get your way, but Professor Oak isn't like you. If he said those balls are different, then they're different. No questions."
"Well, excuse me for not blindly trusting a human I've never met," Blitz rolled his eyes, "besides, if you're wrong, I'm back to being an overly excited and blindly faithful personal minion."
"Oh please. Do I act like that?" Gizmo turned his head in a questioning manner.
Blitz looked up in thought, "well, now that you mention it... were you caught by Oak? Because you seem quite... defensive of his reputation."
Jason blinked, surprised at the implication, before checking the bottom of Gizmo's pokéball. The pyjama clad boy let out a sigh of relief, "this has the 'B' on it."
The electric pokémon grinned at this, "great! That means we can test this before I do it." Blitz turned to look at Gizmo, "when Oak caught you, if that's what happened, did you notice a sudden and unexplainable love for the man?"
Gizmo sighed, "no dice, I was born and raised in that lab. He's like a parent to me."
Blitz let out a weary sigh, "of course you were..."
"We could try giving him an order," Cody mumbled.
Jason blinked, clearly confused, "what?"
Blitz's response was quite different, as he gave an excited jump at the idea, "of course! Normal pokéballs make pokémon follow orders without question. If you give Gizmo a direct order, and he doesn't do it, then we know these balls are serious!"
Gizmo rolled his eyes, "really? Pokémon disobey their trainers all the time, what's this actually going to prove?"
"How often do trainers use the words, 'I order you...' exactly?" Blitz crossed his arms, "people don't talk like that, therefore people don't notice," Blitz looked at Jason, "could you please just order him to do something for my peace of mind, please?"
Jason nodded, "okay. Gizmo, I order you to attack Blitz."
Gizmo's expression went blank. He calmly walked over to Blitz, and proceeded to whack the electric mouse upside the head.
The boys were quickly overcome with dread at the event, while Blitz could only stare at the other pokémonblankly, left completely speechless.
Gizmo stared back at Blitz for a moment, for bursting into giggles. "Ah, lighten up! It's just a joke."
No one moved for a moment. Cody and Jason glanced at each other, both equally unsure how to react.
Blitz didn't have that problem.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Blitz yelled, "we're trying to figure this mess out, and you're playing jokes?"
Gizmo rolled his eyes, "look, if you guys are gonna make such a big deal out of nothing, then I'm going to have to try and entertain myself."
"A 'big deal out of nothing'?" Blitz glared at the beige coloured pokémon, "are you trying to be cute?"
"Not at all," Gizmo shook his head, "I just think it's a stupid thing to worry about."
The electric type couldn't suppress the twitch in his eye, "so you think I'm stupid?"
"Well, if the ball fits..." Gizmo smirked
Blitz was overcome with a cold rage. Electricity crackled at Blitz's cheeks, and in a flash of blinding light Gizmo had been shocked. The beige quadruped was staggered for a moment, before shaking it off and taking on a scowl before rushing to tackle Blitz.
Blitz didn't react in time, and Gizmo rammed him at full force. The extra momentum and weight of the eevee caused the lightning mouse to lose balance, and the both tumbled over in a pile.
Eventually they both regained their senses from their loss of balance, got to their feet and continued their fight.
Blitz fired a bolt at Gizmo with so much power that the beige pokémon's fur stood on end. This shock had been more difficult for Gizmo to shake off, but he hadn't given up yet.
Gizmo ran circles around Blitz, causing the electric type to become dizzy while trying to follow him. Before Blitz could figure out what was going on, Gizmo had appeared behind him and proceeded to bite into Blitz's shoulder hard enough for a red smear of blood to appear on the mouse pokémon's pale fur.
Blitz shocked Gizmo with a light voltage on reflex, before jumping back to gain some distance.
The two pokémon glared at each other.
Cody and Jason had started backing away from the two pokémon the moment that Blitz had started yelling. They now watched the fight unravel, unsure what they were supposed to do.
"Shouldn't we be stopping this?" Jason asked, watching the disagreement turn into a full-blown brawl.
After a moment where Cody didn't respond, Jason turned to the other boy and found him watching intently.
Jason sighed, "Cody! What are we gonna do?"
Cody blinked. He looked started, as if he'd just been pulled from an intense thought. He looked up, brow furrowed, "well, you see, I'm conflicted. Gizmo bit Blitz hard enough to draw blood, but biting is a legitimate move in an official pokémon battle, right?"
Jason stared at the red-haired boy, overcome with exasperation, quickly shaking his head in disbelief, "yes. Yes, it is. But this isn't an official pokémon battle. In actual fact, this is pointless."
"I disagree," Cody shrugged, "Blitz has had a stressful day, what with the earth-shattering revelations, the poisoning, that horrid Nurse Joy, and Gizmo's... did Gizmo go crazy in the last five minutes?" Cody shook his head, "not important at the moment. I think he might've been trying to distract me as well, so I'd wager that he's pretty stressed out, and this seems like a decent chance for him to blow off some steam. Also," Cody glanced at Jason with a playful look in his eyes, "Gizmo definitely started it."
"It hardly matters who-" before Jason could finish his retort, Cody had cupped his hands around his mouth, and was shouting.
"Blitz, stop trying to look at him when he's running around you! Just listen for his movements and zap him!"
Blitz stopped moving, just about to get caught in another of Gizmo's spin around tricks. The mouse pokémon processed Cody's words, and stopped moving. He focused on his hearing for a moment, his ears twitched, and he fired off a bolt of lightning.
Gizmo gritted his teeth and stumbled. He'd experienced a few different shocks during the fight, and it was starting to take its toll on him. On the other hand, he was starting to get used to the debilitating effects of being electrocuted.
Gizmo was about to blindly jump back into the fight, when his trainer decided to speak up.
"Gizmo, pikachu typically have weak physical defence! Hit him with your strongest normal type attack!"
Gizmo blinked, in that moment he thought to himself about his available roster, before making a choice.
The evolution pokémon rushed forward, building up momentum as he shifted his head into the best position for smashing one's head into something and negating most of the damage to the user.
'He knows headbutt?' Blitz thought disbelievingly, 'how am I supposed to deal with that?'
As if reading his mind, Cody spoke up again, "punch him!"
Blitz blinked incredulously. He would've turned to stare at the boy if it weren't for the beige blur rushing towards him. Despite Blitz's disbelief at the insanity of the instruction that had been given to him, it had actually given him an idea...
"This is so stupid!" Blitz yelled, as he pulled his paw back and it became engulfed in electricity, until his arm physically resembled a bolt of lightning.
Blitz waited until Gizmo was a hair's breath away, before shoving his fist forward so fast that it created a thunderous bang as it made contact with Gizmo's forehead.
Both pokémon were still for a moment. Gizo took a step back from Blitz, and Blitz let his paw drop back to his side. The two glared at each other for a moment, the intensity in their eyes was like a burning fire, continuously building into an inferno.
That intensity disappeared in an instant when the two pokémon's masks of intimidation fell away.
Gizmo lost balance on his legs, he had to shake his head frantically as a terrible headache formed, and meanwhile Blitz had been flexing his paw, as the combination of a high voltage and the recoil from the impact had caused it to become numb.
"Okay," Gizmo spoke up while massaging his forehead in small circles, "you definitely won that."
"Yeah, sorry about that," Blitz gestured towards the quadruped's head, "that's got to suck. But hey, maybe I knocked some sense into you."
Despite the pain, Gizmo rolled his eyes, "it feels like my brain's pulsing, and I still don't get what's so bad about the pokéballs."
Blitz let out a sigh, "I'm going to hazard a guess and say you've never met a pokémon that was caught by a standard ball, or if you have it was very brief. I bet you'll figure it out after a week of traveling."
"We'll see..." Gizmo winced, closing his eyes tight as his headache got even worse.
Before Blitz could respond to Gizmo's fluctuating headache, Jason rushed over, the worry was clear on his face. He looked the evolution pokémon over for any signs of long-term damage.
Cody followed behind, at a slower pace. He wasn't as worried about the pokémon as Jason was, but Blitz did notice the boy giving him the occasional concerned look.
Blitz rolled his eyes, "honestly, you two are acting like pokémon don't get into fights all the time."
Cody looked up in thought as he considered that, it was a fair point he had to admit. Jason stopped fretting about his pokémon partner as well, once that detail had sunk in.
Gizmo shook his head, something that had caused him no small amount of pain given the current situation, "I mean, seriously, aren't you the one that studied to be a pokémon trainer?"
Jason gave the beige pokémon a withering look, "why shouldn't I be worried? You were just in an unorganised battle. You weren't prepared, I definitely wasn't. If it had been any other pokémon, you could've been seriously injured."
Gizmo blinked at his trainer, and proceeded to look at the ground, feeling guilty.
Jason, still needing to vent his frustration, turned his attention to Blitz, "and you. Pikachu don't learn Thunder Punch naturally. Explain how you know it."
Blitz blinked, confused by the question. A moment later he was smirking.
"It's not actually a difficult concept to grasp, you punch something... with electricity." Blitz smirked, as small sparks danced around his body, "Sort of what electric types do, you know?"
Cody giggled, drawing the attention of Jason and the pokémon, "I assume I'll get a similar answer if I point out that eevee can't naturally learn headbutt either?"
The beige coloured pokémon looked at him with surprise in his eyes, "really? But it's just smashing your head into something..."
There was a moment of silence in the group before Cody and Blitz stated laughing uncontrollably. Gizmo was confused by the display, while Jason was quite annoyed by it.
"Ah, you guys crack me up. No harm done, yeah?" Cody waited for Jason to sigh and nod his head, "good, so what are you going to be doing now?"
Before Jason spoke, he gently lifted Gizmo from the ground and headed towards his front door, "I'm going to give Gizmo a general check-up, and then we'll be heading off."
Cody nodded, "and change out of those pyjamas, right?"
Jason stopped before stepping through the door, and glanced back at the other boy with a smile on his face, "good luck, Cody."
He closed the door after that.
With that Cody and Blitz were alone, and their façades of good humour fell away.
"You okay?" Cody asked, no longer hiding his concern.
Blitz stared up at the boy. The electric mouse had been in the boy's company for most of the day, and he seemed to clash with Blitz's idea of what a trainer was.
Upon reflection, his previous trainer had been bearable, if wholly ignorant of the fact that he didn't want to do the things she told him to do, and was unable to disobey a command. Then there were trainers like those two other red-heads that had ambushed him. They were Blitz's example of the worst sort of trainer, those who were only motivated by self-interest and saw pokémon as just another stepping stone.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Blitz looked Cody in the eyes, "I'm ready to be captured now."
"What?" Cody was surprised.
Blitz shrugged, "I figure if I start acting weirdly, you'd break the ball. Now, I hate clichés, but hurry up and do it, before I change my mind."
Not having to be told twice, Cody grabbed one of the pokéballs that Professor Oak had assured him didn't have any mental effects on pokémon.
Cody threw the empty black and white pokéball at Blitz, the ball opened in the air. Blitz was transformed into a red energy, before being sucked into the pokéball.
The ball landed on the ground, rocking back and forth erratically, which caused Cody some concern, as a successful capture was supposed to involve three periodic shakes.
After five seconds of waiting, there was a click that confirmed the capture, followed by the pokéball changing colour. The bottom half of the ball was a light orange, and the top half was a pale yellow.
Cody stared at the ball in shock, which only increased when the ball snapped open on its own, revealing Blitz, who seemed to be dazed by the experience.
"Are you okay? You don't feel…brain washy, do you?"
Blitz blinked, "brain washy? Really?"
"Well excuse me for being worried," Cody huffed, arms crossed.
Blitz rolled his eyes, "I feel fine."
"So not desperately in love with me?"
"Nope." Blitz shook his head.
Cody nodded, "Okay, how about this. I order you to jump."
Blitz looked a little uncomfortable, but he didn't jump. He didn't seem like he was trying to resist anything, either. Slowly, both Cody and Blitz smiled, it was confirmed. The pokéballs did as Professor Oak described.
The electric mouse, calming down from the experiment, looked at the pokéball that he was now connected to, still on the ground, with a mixed expression. He picked it up, and threw it at Cody, who managed to catch it despite his surprise.
"I don't like looking at that thing, so keep it away from me," as he spoke he climbed up onto Cody's shoulder, "but, make sure to keep it somewhere safe. Out of sight and safe, you understand?"
Cody nodded, "don't worry, I'll take good care of it."
"Great. What's the plan now?"
Cody looked up in thought, his expression falling, "we've got to go get my trainer license."
Blitz didn't understand why that would cause the boy to become so downtrodden, but as Cody started walking back towards his house, Blitz figured he would find out.