[Cues: Pokémon FireRed/Leafgreen OST - Intro]
The Outsider's Insurrection
Indigo Iliad
Chapter 73: Safari Showdown
Translated Pokémon Speech
Pokédex Entries/Computerized Voices/Flashbacks
Reference to an Accessory in the Games
-o-
(Kanto Safari Zone | May 15th | 9:30 a.m.)
The rest of the gang would enter the Safari Zone after battling several Rocket Grunts. They decided they needed to go after Crimson just in case. Of course, they paid to get in.
"Supra!" Sissi said sending out her Togekiss. "Circle around and find Crimson."
Sissi turned to Joe and Rusty before remarked she knew they had Dexes but she did not want to trigger them just in case. Joe took a breath and focused his mind drawing upon his ESP to connect to Crimson while giving off a glow.
"Joe?" Sissi asked.
"Ok, I feel exactly the presence of at least twelve or so aside from us. Reading the thoughts of the nearest one, I can gather that it's a slow day with most of the people inside being staff. I can sense Crimson's aura, he's to the west." Joe said firmly. "We need to move."
The group went ahead with Joe leading towards the massive lake. Rusty sent out Rebecca as they used her as a raft to get across to it to get to the Western sector. As they got off, Joe and Rusty both felt a Pokémon in distress. Joe moved slowly and found a Tauros in pain from a bullet wound on its side. Joe got us his knife and assured the bovine he wanted to remove the bullet. Tauros bit down as Joe wedged it out only to nearly be shot for doing so causing the Tauros to tweak out.
"Yo, what the hell?!" Joe said to see a lone man aimed at him with a smoking colt revolver.
"Just in the midst of dealing with a poacher."
"Poacher? Do I look like I have a gun, you asshole?! I was literally removing the bullet out of this Tauros. Now put the gun down." Joe said easing himself over to shield Tauros.
"And I highly doubt poachers would be hanging around me." Misty said getting his attention.
The ranger lowered the gun as Joe put his knife back.
"Like hell, I'd ever be a poacher." Joe said in disgust.
"So why would you carry a knife?"
"Because with Team Rocket in Kanto, it's so safe to walk without a sub-weapon." Joe said sarcastically.
"Regardless, we are not poachers." Sissi said as Joe got out a Hyper Potion and a few berries for Tauros.
"You all right, there. You can speak to me…I can understand you." Joe said gently.
"It was…it was a woman in black clothing. Red R on the chest. Grey soulless eyes…she had firearms. Armed too well." Tauros said gathering his strength to stand. "Thank you, kind human."
"Rocket grunt is in the area. She's armed with firearms." Joe said icily. "Tauros here was just a victim."
"What are you, psychic?"
"Yes, I am. Still somewhat learning how to master it…Kaiser Laramie, right?" Joe said.
"You'd be right." Kaiser said as Tauros flinched as Kaiser took a step. "Oh…"
"I'll deal with this. You're probably going to need time to heal…and I think I'll take you with me." Joe said taking up a Safari Ball. "How about it?"
"I don't think I'll be too comfortable staying here…so sure. If you're willing to risk your neck for me, then I'm sure you're a good trainer." Tauros said tapping the ball and letting himself get captured.
CLICK!
"Welcome aboard, Trev." Joe said as the ball vanished to his PC. "Stocking, have him sent to Tree's. Let him know what happened."
"Whatever…it'll be done." Dex Stocking remarked.
"If you want to help us, then join us. But if you'll do gun-ho, then stay out of the way." Joe said before walking ahead with the others.
Elsewhere, Crimson and Lara had cornered Cassidy. Lara's now evolved Arcanine snarled at the enemy as Cassidy had her back across a tree. Lara even had her own Pump Shotgun aimed at her.
"Come quietly or else." Lara said as Cassidy began to laugh. "What's so funny?"
"Your threats…are meaningless. I'm already a dead woman regardless of what happens to me, but there's one last thing I can do to. Consider it my final fuck you, Crimson!" Cassidy before pulling her flare gun.
Lara and Cassidy fired their weapons. Lara got Cassidy's shoulder while Cassidy hit the air.
"Wait, that's a flare gun!" Crimson said as the flare exploded.
"My partner will see it and is probably on the run with the case. Good fucking luck, asshole!" Cassidy yelled as she was on her butt clutching her bleeding shoulder.
Crimson icily walked up to her glaring at her smug face before grabbing her by her throat and slamming her skull into the tree leaving her body go limp on the ground.
"I need to after her. Take this bitch back to your ranch, tie her up and gag her. Let's just say I'm collecting a bounty on this one, just not to the police." Crimson explained.
"Got it. Bitch made me waste a perfectly good bullet." Lara said before Crimson took off running.
"Bulma, alert the others. I'm sensing the shithead." Crimson said before jumping up into the trees.
He would have used Red Bullet, but it made too much noise. He had a lock on her energy. At the tent, Bullet heard the flare and cursed as she put her guitar in her case. She took it and the briefcase before running out of the tent. Yes, she had to leave a few supplies, but securing the skulls were vital. Crimson would find the tent finding nothing but clips for a pistol, two grenades, a taser, another pistol, and a flare gun. He took them and continued on his chase after her, but left an unpinned grenade behind to blow up the tent.
Bullet kept running before jumping up on a tree to climb up on. Clipping the case to her side, she opened her guitar case and took aim. Crimson was after her but skidded to a stop, sensing she stopped moving. Then he heard a click and jumped behind a tree dodging a hail of bullets.
"Tec-9. Not a bad choice for a firearm." Crimson said thought as more bullets pelted the tree.
A pin was pulled, and a grenade clacked against the tree as Crimson had to get down as it blew up the tree causing Pokémon to scatter about. He could hear her jump off the tree and continue running. Crimson looked horrified to she released a risk of a forest fire. Thankfully, the local Pokémon rushed to quickly stop them leaving Crimson chase Bullet down. Bullet kept moving before spying something on the ground that she swiped and threw at him. Ironic given the item was something useful to him.
"Gold Teeth? Well shit, not going to complain." Crimson said shoving it in his bag.
Out of the western side and moving into the central side, Bullet scaled the mountainous platform before turning around with a sawed-off shotgun. Crimson's overcoat was nipped by the blast from it as he hit the ground to dodge another shot. He got to his feet as he whipped out his own pistol aiming for the gun itself. He missed the first shot, but the second shot nailed it forcing her to drop it. He fired after her forcing her to move scaling down for the cover in the tall grass.
CLICK! CLICK! He was out. He emptied the clips only for Bullet came out with Berettas putting Crimson on defense, taking a few grazing blows before hiding behind a fence. Bullet would see something go up and she emptied bullets into it before it came to the ground.
"All right, hands up…"
An Officer Jenny on duty armed with her own rifle only to get a several hot ones in her. BLAM! BLAM! Two through her kneecaps as Bullet hit the dirt. Despite the loss of her legs, she forced herself to roll around to face Crimson firing at his head only to for him dodge each shot looking more and more furious. Bullet started to sweat crawling towards for her guitar case only to be faced with only for Jenny's foot to come down on her hand.
"You ok?" He asked.
"No, pretty sure she hit a lung." Jenny said clutching her wound. "Do me a favor and…"
BLAM! BLAM! He shot both Bullet's elbows disabling her arms before putting the guns away and taking the case.
"Jenny, I suggest we leave now." Crimson said.
"Why?" Jenny said only to see him pull a grenade. "You're not…"
"Oh yes. This one gave me a bit of a fight…besides this one nearly started a forest fire. And I don't want to leave her alive in case she has a bomb stuffed between her legs. You want that chance seeing that case?" Crimson asked.
The Jenny backed off seeing the case had several grenades. Crimson pulled the pin before dropping in Bullet's lap. He lit up a blunt and walked away as Bullet did what she could only do…scream before being blown up with her and her guitar.
"Crimson!" Sissi said coming up with the others. "What the hell happened?"
"I had a gunfight." Crimson remarked.
"But aren't you bulletproof at this point in your training?" Rusty asked.
"Yeah, but if she found that out…she would have resorted to heavier weapons or explosives. Considering she had grenades and that case appears to be an RPG…I didn't want a forest fire." Crimson said taking a drag.
"Jenny, are you…" Kaiser said as Jenny was breathing heavily.
"No…medic please." Jenny said collapsing.
-o-
(Laramie Ranch, Fuchsia City | May 15th | 7:30 p.m.)
Unfortunately, that Jenny did not make it. It was a twisted form of irony seeing that Crimson was praised for murdering Jenny's killer. Crimson did feel guilt for not just using auric attacks but was rationed by his Dex that he would have risked making a forest fire himself if he had missed. With Jenny dead and Cassidy incapacitated, Crimson knew he had gotten away with the case, but Giovanni would definitely know.
"Hey." Lara remarked seeing Crimson out on his own. "I want to thank you for what you did. Jenny's murder was avenged."
"I know, but…damn." Crimson said shaking his head. "I feel like shit."
"You did what you could. And I have a way of showing thanks." Lara said kindly.
"You're pretty and all, but I don't think I'm in the mood fo…" Crimson said only for Lara to playfully punch his shoulder.
"What do you think this is, a western? I meant this…" Lara said giving him a Safari Ball. "One of my Tauros from the ranch. I heard what your friend Joe did. Mighty kind of him to do that and stand up to my father."
"Kaiser. Well shit, even if I was in the mood, not worth the bullets." Crimson thought.
Crimson scanned it with the PokéDex to see it was on level 40 and happily accepted as it was sent off to the PC.
"Take good of Brutus." Lara said. "And about the girl?"
"She's being picked up right abou…now." Crimson said sensing Neo. "Where's Cass?"
"In the barn." Lara said worriedly. "Is something wrong?"
"No, but you should go. This woman I'm dealing with has a rep. Few have heard her voice…and lived. And she would probably like to keep it that way." Crimson warned.
"I'll go check on the others, find me when you're done." Lara said leaving for Crimson to stop her. "Hm?"
"You deserve half of the reward cash, least I can do." Crimson said as Lara nodded leaving him.
As she left, Neo strolled up.
"She's in the barn." Crimson said. "And I got the skulls."
"Those skulls are worth a small fortune. Aside from the 10% cut that Roman is going to take, this shit is going to make you a richer man." Neo remarked.
"I know, but it was done in blood. And the bounty…" Crimson said only to be presented with 500,000 Poké Dollars. "The hell did this bitch do?!"
"Not as much as her partner, but we the people of Sepia realized that a big bounty would convince you not to care about what we are going to do to her." Neo said with a crooked grin.
"You lucky I don't care for her fate." Crimson remarked giving her the case with the skulls. "Just the business."
"Pleasure…good luck on your journey." Neo said leaving him as he walked away himself.
He found Lara taking her aside giving her the half of the money.
"That much for her…" Lara remarked.
"Sepia City has it in for her." Crimson remarked. "Thanks again."
Crimson left to seek out his friends as Lara was thinking to herself…maybe she could consider bounty hunting. At the center, he came to see his friends as they got went to get a hot drink.
"How did it go?" Joe asked.
"Cassidy's not my problem anymore. The skulls are dealt with it, and Team Rocket has egg on it's face. All is right…except for Jenny." Crimson remarked. "I couldn't help but picture Vivi or Alisa there."
"We're sorry, but let's brighten the mood." Sissi insisted.
"Yeah, I got a Tauros from Lara as thanks." Crimson remarked.
"I caught one in the Zone, I need to borrow your TMs." Joe remarked.
"I didn't really find anything I wanted. I needed a Grass type, but the options were not all too pleasing. But I did catch this funny two-headed bird. Joe told me that it can fly, but he had no wings. Doduo just walks on air!" Sissi said as Crimson chuckled. "While doing that, she evolves, and I got her with the Safari Ball right at the moment. I'll need to borrow your TMs."
"I didn't really find anything I wanted at all. I think I'll go back to the Trophy Garden to hunt for a water type there." Rusty remarked.
"Pretty disappointed really. Needs more imported Pokémon in my opinion." Misty mused.
"Speaking of which, I got one more stop for the night. Then we need to talk." Crimson said finishing his drink.
"I'm coming with, hotshot." Misty said joining him out the door.
Crimson led her to a house in town before knocking on the door to which an old man answered the door. Crimson presented him the dentures to which he swiped and put it in his mouth.
"Thank you, young man. I had been meaning to hope someone found them. I…you must be Crimson. Let me introduce myself. I am Baoba Laramie, head warden of the Kanto Safari Zone. Thank you, sonny for finding these and avenging one of our fallen." Baoba said. "My grandchildren are fans of yours. Impressive for a rookie to amass a following."
"Ironic, you have that Rocket chick to thank because she threw it at me." Crimson explained.
"Why did she think that would do anything?" Misty asked as Baoba let them in.
"Because it's made of gold." Crimson pointed out.
"Regardless, I want you to have this HM. HM04, Strength! This one will allow your Pokémon to draw out their innermost natural power. Also, you have them push boulders if you want." Baoba said giving it to Crimson. "And as for aiding my family, you have my eternal gratitude. And a lifetime pass to the Safari Zone."
The irony considering that in the Safari Zone itself there was probably only two…three Pokémon Crimson considered. But this gave him an idea.
"You know. Hoenn has a Safari Zone. Maybe get in contact with them make some kind of exchange to up your park's allure." Crimson said vaguely. "Could be fruitful…"
He bid goodbye leaving with Misty to have the old man stew in thought.
"Misty, it might not be safe for us to be here. Considering the Rocket's hold in Celadon…" Crimson said worriedly.
"I know, but we'll be ready." Misty said before reveal a pistol of her own. "Jacked it off a Rocket Grunt. Trust me, I know how to fire one of them. Military brat."
"Heh. We're going to have to make a stop in Sepia before we go to Celadon." Crimson remarked as Misty put it away. "Rather not rely on stealing from the Rockets for ammo."
"So, we staying the night?" Misty asked.
"Yeah, it doesn't make sense to risk flying at night. Besides, right now…Giovanni has to do damage control. And considering one of his own was stupid enough to murder a Jenny, he's probably trying to figure out how to get the heat of his ass." Crimson stated with a laugh. "Now about those TMs. I need to get to Joe on that."
-o-
(Rocket Hideout, Fuchsia City | May 15th | 9:00 p.m.)
Giovanni knew he screwed the Poochyena, and he could not blame Crimson for this one. No, one of his goons had the bright idea to kill a Jenny in the way leaving themselves open to be killed. Bullet, one of his best, had a moment of bad judgement. Now, he was out of the Cubone Skulls which was easily 50 mil, and he had to explain to his client why he would not get the skulls. And Cassidy was MIA, but she may as well be a dead woman considering the news only mentioned one.
"So, should we send more…"
"No, Proton. Crimson right now is the least of our problems. One of the Jenny family is dead, and they are going to want blood for it. The Jenny in this town is shaky, and we still have the plan at Saffron to commit to." Giovanni sternly retorted out. "So, I want a pull back of all agents to focus on matters towards Saffron and defending here."
"Crimson. He'll enjoy the victory, but I think he knows the war isn't over." Pretel remarked.
"He's screwed us." Archer thought. "All Bullet has done was sway public opinion on his side."
"You think he killed Cassidy or she ran?" Pretel asked.
"Ran most definitely. Considering we only gave her a flare gun, probably used it and bolted." Ariana said shaking her head.
"It doesn't matter. Cassidy isn't going to dare show her face in Kanto. Not when she has both us and Crimson wanting her head." Giovanni said darkly.
-o-
(Sepia City | May 15th | 9:30 p.m.)
Cassidy was seriously regretting being mean to Crimson or just taking his offer to just walk away from Team Rocket. Considering Butch's death, she realized that should have the tipping point to leave. Now, it was too late. Team Rocket was not coming to save her, and Crimson was all out of mercy. She burned her bridges, and she's sank. Sure, she had free roam around Sepia, but she could never leave it. Not that she would even if she could. She simply sighed in defeat looking at herself in her new uniform…the streets were calling, and she had cash to make. At least Neo was nice to give her a Pokémon to protect herself…after licking her boots. Not like she can afford to have dignity anymore.
(A/N: Bullet, the silent and deadly gunslinger. Her guitar case is a cheeky reference to a certain movie I have been eyeing. Now, we have a moment of stalemate between the Black Dragons and Team Rocket. Neither want to make a move until the media heat dies down. As for Lara musing being a bounty hunter, that was someone's obscure idea I wanted to bring up. The idea is interesting enough on its own. As for Cassidy, her story is functionally done. She'll appear again if we ever go to Sepia Town again, but her goose is cooked.)
[New Captures!]
[Crimson]
Tauros Lv.40 (Male) (Brutus) |Kept in a Safari Ball| [OT: Lara Laramie]
Ability: Anger Point
Nature: Adamant
Characteristic: Likes to fight
Met at Lv.40 in Fuchsia City
Moves Known: Skull Bash, Smart Strike, Wild Charge, Strength, Earthquake, Zen Headbutt, ?
Held Item: Silk Scarf
[Joe]
Tauros Lv.30 (Male) (Trev) |Kept in a Safari Ball|
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Naive
Characteristic: Alert to sounds
Met at Lv.30 in Kanto Safari Zone
Moves Known: Hyper Beam, Pursuit, Return, Payback, Iron Tail, Swagger, ?
Held Item:
[Sissi]
Dodrio Lv.31 (Female) (Nickname: Bazel) |Kept in a Safari Ball|
Ability: Early Bird
Nature: Gentle
Moves: Tri Attack, Mirror Move, Toxic, Drill Peck, Work Up, Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, ?
Held Item: