AN: Sorry for leaving you all off on a cliffhanger lol. That was not intentional. Now, I got some conflicting comments that some people want Paul to be strong and some people want Paul to be weaker. All I'm going to say is Paul will utilize his Pokémon and will get stronger at a quicker pace than a normal anime trainer, but in exchange, there's not going to be a lot of down time until later on when he has more gym battles. Trying to plan in the anime movies is whack enough with trying to incorporate Paul there.
Blaze2121/Viperx679: Y'know, I thought it'd be harder to guess, but hey, you're right!
NobodyOwens5: Alright, I'll give you this: you got one of the typings right. My only hint for right now! Also, I'm sorry about the cliff hanger. Don't hate me for this one :)
As for the rest of the reviews, I appreciate the compliments on the chapter. Any further comments on the skill level Paul should be at has this response from me: I'm working things out and the reason why some Pokémon seem off in power is because they are, like with the Mega Gardevoir. While powerful, my reasoning is that she's not as strong as say a champion's Gardevoir and the skill level of a trainer matters when making those decisions to use them during battle.
I'll leave out the true thing I'm trying to portray throughout this journey, but I'll see if you can guess it ;). Now onto the chapter!
A flame erupted out of nowhere, burning Ariados, Salamence, and Drapion who dropped me once hit. I landed squarely on the ground but was promptly picked up by something. It was the Infernape. But whose Infernape is it?
"It looks like you're in a bit of trouble. Glad you didn't hesitate to alert the authorities, even if you went and tried to take things into your own hands."
"It's you!" Hunter J exclaimed.
"Flint of the Elite Four!" I said, recognizing him.
"At your service," he saluted me before turning to Hunter J. "Hunter J, the Pokémon Bounty Hunter. I've heard that you've been causing some trouble around here. It's my job to take you in! Infernape, use flame wheel and sweep them all up!"
As Infernape lowered me on to the ground, allowing me to stand, Flint said, "You better recall your Pokémon while she's distracted dealing with Infernape."
"Ah, right," I said, taking out the pokeballs and sending out a beam to all the wounded and knocked-out, leaving Torterra as the only one out. Torterra quickly wobbled over to me. I noticed that Flint's Infernape was about to back off from the fight to receive further orders from Flint, so I whispered to Torterra to use synthesis. We had to be ready.
Flint started his instructions. "Infernape, use overheat on them!" Ariados and Drapion were severely hurt from Infernape's earlier flame wheel as they were knocked around by it, but Salamence just looked enraged.
Firing off a hyper beam without J's direction, Salamence aimed for Infernape who jumped out of the way. The overheat still went through, hitting Ariados and Drapion, knocking out both.
With an angry click of the tongue, Hunter J recalled the two and muttered something before calling out, "Salamence, use outrage!" Salamence then engaged Infernape in combat, slashing at him with his jaws and firing off short draconic blasts.
Outrage is a risky move where the user will go off on a rampage, firing off whatever attacks they can in quick succession. While it is powerful, if someone can last through it, Salamence will be heavily hindered by confusion. It looks like while Infernape can dodge some blows, he is being hit by a portion of them, taking massive damage.
"Infernape, fight back with close combat and poison jab!" With a command that sounds unrealistic to my ears, Infernape starts matching Salamence's strikes and getting some of his own in. The chance of poison with poison jab and the striking speed of close combat is excellent and seeing it in action almost makes me drop my jaw in astonishment.
But this is no time for getting stuck on that.
Turning to a healed Torterra, I whisper him my commands as I wait for the right moment. Torterra stored his energy as we watched. Blow for blow, the two's battle went on with both sides issuing commands.
The difference between the two was apparent. J was erratic with her commands after making the bad call of outrage. What Salamence did was out of her hands now. Flint, on the other hand, was confident and calm. He had everything under control, and it was mind-numbing how much more powerful and skilled that Infernape and Flint both were compared to me and any of my Pokémon.
Will I ever be able to get to that level?
Casting aside those feelings, I saw Infernape jumping back from a swipe of Salamence's claw.
"NOW Torterra!"
Torterra fired off the powerful solar beam that I had told him to prepare for earlier, hitting Salamence directly. Salamence shrugged it off and turned to his master.
Hunter J clicked her tongue again as she knew that Salamence was on his last leg. With a shout that held a lot of spite in it, Hunter J said, "Salamence, use stone edge!" The powerful attacked tore up the ship as soon it was covered in boulders that pierced through the floor. Thankfully, Infernape was able to carry Flint and I out of any danger that could have befallen us while Torterra had to take the damage head on.
I could hear Flint mutter, "Damn it, so this is her getaway." And that made me turn to where J just was. I saw her already almost out of sight, flying on top of her Salamence. She had escaped.
When Infernape landed, Flint shrugged off his annoyance at J getting away and clapped his hands and said, "Well, let's get everything cleaned up, alright?"
(-)
Flint ended up calling Solaceon Town's Officer Jenny and leaving rounding up the rest of Hunter J's henchman to her. Flint explained it to me that his other Pokémon had already knocked them out while we fought Hunter J, so it was only a matter of arresting them and putting them in jail. Hunter J's ship would go under possession by the police and any Pokémon left in the ship would be returned to their owner.
Honestly, I doubt there's any Pokémon left in the ship that hasn't escaped already. With all the hyper beams and solar beams being thrown around, the ship was a wreck, or at least the upper compartment is a wreck.
Anyway, Flint had his Rapidash transport us to Solaceon Town. Before getting on, I took off the grunt uniform I was wearing. "Since this whole situation is a crime," he explained, "You're going to have to be questioned, but don't worry, you're not going to be in any trouble even though you were reckless enough to go after Hunter J."
"When it comes to my Pokémon, I don't care how reckless I have to be to make sure they're safe," I countered.
Flint gave a strange look at that and said, "Sure, it's nice that you love your Pokémon to that extent. I have colleagues that do the same, but," he said, drawing it out, "You need to play things smart. You called the police, that was smart. You decided to go in after Hunter J without backup, not so smart."
Paul let Flint's words sink in before muttering, "I thought you were going to say to not get involved and let the police handle it…"
Flint laughed at that sentiment. "I can't possibly tell you that when I know that my younger self would absolutely explode on anyone if I was told the same!"
That's kind of reassuring. That's probably why Ash and his friends never get scolded too hard for getting involved now that I think about it, they're a group. In the manual, the league does recommend traveling in a group for rookie trainers, so I can see the logic there.
"Well, we're here!" Flint exclaimed, stopping Rapidash in front of a building.
"A Pokémon café?"
"Well, would you prefer the police station? I assure you it's a lot less comfortable."
"No, no. The Pokémon café is fine. It's just this one thing…"
Flint was confused that I had a problem with anything. "What's wrong?"
"Most of my Pokémon are knocked out. Even Torterra, who healed himself, is exhausted after the battle. I'm exhausted myself, but I can push through an interrogation."
It was an almost visible exclamation point that showed Flint connecting the dots there. "Ah, no worries. I can spare you some revives and potions. Be sure to go to the Pokémon Center afterwards though. I don't want the Nurse Joy to yell at me later for delaying the Pokémon's recovery."
"Alright, will do."
After healing up my Pokémon and ordering a table, the situation was like this: Flint and I facing each other across a table with light refreshments and our Pokémon, big and small, reclining on the sidelines.
Flint's team turned out to consist of his ace, Infernape, followed by his Rapidash, which I already knew, a Houndoom, Magmortar, Flareon, and a Ninetails. Even though his team was only fire types, that earlier display of power shows me that even countering them in types would do little unless you're at another level in skill.
As Ninjask rested on my shoulder, Flint spoke up, "So, what's with the egg? Showing it off or something?"
I had my Pokémon egg on my lap. "No, it's just an important piece of the puzzle of why I was forced to act."
"Ah, I guess we should start the questions then. How did Hunter J come to possess your Pokémon?"
From then on, I told him everything from how I infiltrated J's base to when he showed up.
After just finishing another question, Flint said, "Right, well, we can stop there. It seems that while you were keeping your head in this, you were severely underprepared to handle the likes of Hunter J. Hunter J is infamous because of how dangerous she is so don't let that get you down. You were limited in what you could do."
Getting up, Flint continued, "Anyway, remember my advice about playing things smart and you'll do better if you encounter a situation like this again. And don't worry," Flint said, reassuringly walking away, "We'll get Hunter J soon enough. It's only a matter of time."
Flint left, paying for the both of us, and while I appreciated the sentiment about Hunter J, somehow, I doubt she was going to get caught anytime soon.
(-)
After getting my Pokémon checked in with Nurse Joy, I settled into my room, contemplating today. I was incredibly tired and just drained from everything. I'm mixed in emotions really. I'm incredibly happy to have my Pokémon back, but I'm frustrated that they were taken away in the first place.
I'll make sure that none of them will ever get taken away from me ever again. My head hit the pillow and I was out for the night.
When I awoke for the next morning, it turned out it wasn't morning, or at least, not as early as I usually get up. I must've been really tired to sleep through my alarm. Thinking nothing more of it, I went downstairs and had the Pokémon Center's served breakfast. I made sure to feed my own Pokémon as well before heading out.
I had made the executive decision to take things easy today, have some fun watching some entertainment. That entertainment being the Pokémon Contest happening in Solaceon Town. I was interested in the intricacies with Pokémon Contests, not that I would necessarily attempt to try it out myself.
Although it might be fun to try out once.
Putting aside such thoughts, I walked through the town recollecting my thoughts and formulating a future plan. Given that I'm in Solaceon Town, it might be more beneficial to skip on over to Hearthome city, instead of Veilstone. Route 209 is reportedly smaller than 210 and 215, so it'd be a quicker travel.
I wasn't worried about the difficulty of the gym leaders though. I may not be the overconfident jerk that could've been, but I know my skill level.
Coming across the dome shaped building, I instead focused on getting inside and getting a good seat. While Pokémon Contests do not require a fee to enter, it fills up easily and the seats are first come first serve, so it'd be better to arrive early.
Many people were entering as I was, so everything was very loud and crowded, so basically the worst. I did end up pushing my way through and landing a nice middle row seat with an empty seat on both sides.
I decided that I didn't want anyone else to sit next to me.
Calling out Monferno and Croagunk, I let both sit on the seats next to me. No one would get mad at them taking up a seat because of the plentiful seats, but their presence would give me a tad bit more room.
The lights were bright in the stadium and the announcer lady for all the Pokémon contests gave her usual spill about people watching and being excited to see the tricks going on. The announcer lady was hyping everything up when in reality, this was just another one of the many contests that was going to happen in Solaceon Town alone. If they only had one for each town and city, there wouldn't be a lot of participants able to even enter the grand festival.
After the lady showed off the prize of the event, the Solaceon Town ribbon, the judges gave a few words of encouragement. I had questions about the judges being there at every contest, minus Nurse Joy who reportedly has cousins and sisters of similar appearance, but I waved it off and just noted how remarkable it was. In all probability, there are judges for each town/city and they just have relatives who look the same… and judge the same. I wasn't going to question it.
Moving on, they started the first round of the contest. An auburn-haired kid ran out with a fancy suit and called out his Clefable, an aesthetically pleasing Pokémon for most. The fact that it recently was recategorized as a fairy type definitely helped this kid's chances. The boy called out some commands, the only one I could catch was cosmic power, and soon enough, the entire stadium gave off an out-of-this-world feel.
It reminded me that for some reason, their evolutionary line is speculated to have a connection to the moon or even beyond. The immediate atmosphere of the stadium had changed with this kid's performance. He had definitely tested out each move that his Clefable could do and how that would affect the setting rather than the Pokémon.
I couldn't catch all the nuances in the performance, but I was definitely impressed. If this was the benchmark of performances, I'm definitely intrigued to see the rest of them. He received a round of applause and some kind words from the judges.
The other participant was sent in. Her pink dual drills immediately captured my attention.
This should be good…
