It wasn't even ten minutes later that I found myself being called over the intercom to make my way back up to the battlefield.
I paused as I got to the top of the stairs, my eyes landing on a bald man, dressed in a familiar outfit, of black boots, black pants and a red vest. In front of him, stood the bulky rocky form of a four armed Graveler standing perfectly still. The Shadow Pokemon.
But my eyes immediately went to the figure standing beside it, a bipedal green pokemon about half the size of a grown man. It was like a bipedal gecko, with a red underbelly, a trio of sharp leaves jutting from each wrist and a long leaf bending back of its head.
A Grovyle.
It took me more effort than I'd like to admit to peel my jealous awed gaze off of it. I love the Sceptile line. My second favourite line of all pokemon, second only to Charizard, the coolest and most badass pokemon ever.
Its neon yellow eyes were narrowed into a glare, arms crossed. Yet, oddly, that glare was not focused on me. It was out of the corner of its eyes...towards the bald man.
The Team Snagem member. Glais really wasn't kidding about him being a thug huh?
His beady eyes were locked on to me when I looked away from Grovyle, narrowed into a glare on my right arm. On the Snag Machine. "Huh, to think I'd find the little prick that stole what was ours here and now," he sneered, "Better not think you're getting out of here in one piece, brat."
I snorted, before sneering right back, "Shut the fuck up baldy."
The Grovyle outright snorted. Looked like there wasn't much love lost there, huh?
His lips drew into a snarl, but before he could say anything else, the commentator called for me to release my pokemon, and I sent sent out Misdreavus and Vibrava.
"..And the pokemon you stole from our boys huh?" Niver's fists were clenched tightly as he ground his words out.
I jutted my chin out at him and bared my teeth, "You pussies don't deserve pokemon after what you did to them," I snarled back, "I'll make sure to help Vibrava and Misdreavus get back to normal."
"In your dreams you little cunt!" he shot back, "Graveler and Grovyle are about to smash those two into paste, then I'm taking them back alongside the Snag Machine."
"And then you woke up with your face in your cereal," I fired back myself, "Actually, scratch that. You're gonna wake up with a pair of black eyes and missing your own two pokemon, you wanna take my pokemon? Then you better be ready to risk your own."
Graveler didn't react at all, but at my words Grovyle cocked its head to the side and eyed me curiously, and my eyes drifted to its own. I just stared into its eyes, before it smirked and dipped its head lightly at me.
"You are gonna regret mouthing off to me when I gut you!" Niver exploded, face turning red from rage and breaking me from gazing at Grovyle.
...Who the fuck does this bald cunt think he's talking to? I'm gonna break his fucking kneecaps.
As soon as the commentator declared the beginning of the match, my pokemon flew into action without me even saying a word.
We already had a plan formed that I came up with while in the locker room.
Misdreavus like the last match, sunk down and phased through the ground of the battlefield and disappeared, where as Vibrava's front feet glowed with yellow-gold energy and it slammed them into the ground.
"Rollout and then Shad-" Niver began to order, but before he could, the ground of the battlefield gave way beneath the Graveler, forming an ant lion of sand and the rock and ground type lost its footing, falling down out of view as sand surged and grinded over its form drawing roars of pain from it, "Shit! Get over there you and hit it with Leaf Blade, stop it!"
Grovyle cast one look at the sand pit that had dragged Graveler down below, before grunting and then simply disappearing in a blur of speed so fast I couldn't even see it.
A second or two later, it appeared in front of the stationary Vibrava, one arm extended over its head the trio of its leaves on it fused into one massive scythe like glowing green blade.
Then it shot right up into the air, narrowly dodging the torrent of green and yellow flames Vibrava released forward in a split second.
'Holy shit!' I gaped as the Grovyle reached the ceiling in a single bound, kicking off of it and exploding downwards like a rocket, a second glowing green scythe blade forming on its other hand. "Supersonic!" I quickly ordered.
Vibrava opened its mouth and fired a barrage of orange sound waves upwards. Grovyle just about ran straight into them, but just as it was about to, the twin leaf-like tails on its lower rear glowed with metallic light and beat them like a pair of wings, the force of it launching the grass type into a corkscrew spin sideways and narrowly evading the Supersonic attack.
It landed on the ground, skidding to a halt and crouched down, preparing to launch itself at Vibrava again with twin Leaf Blades, but, just as it was about to, the air shook as multiple detonations went off and a huge plume of dark smoke wafting up from the sand pit Graveler had been dragged into.
All eyes went to the sand pit, including Grovyle's. Just in time for Misdreavus to float up out of it, giving me a nod. I grinned, 'Don't you love it when a plan comes together?' I thought to myself.
Niver had done exactly as I wanted him to. I trapped Graveler and he immediately tried to stop Vibrava by attacking with his other pokemon, leaving Misdreavus free to sneak on over, hit the stuck Graveler with Confuse Ray, then a bunch of Shadow Balls.
"Fucking useless!" Niver roared angrily, lifting a pokeball and bringing back his Graveler. He turned a beady glare on Grovyle, "You better not fuck up like that useless rock, or you're gonna get it!"
"Gro." Grovyle merely snorted, turning away from the bald man and exploding towards Vibrava, a flash of white light forming around its body before it disappeared from view once again in a blur of speed.
"Up!" I shouted quickly, and Vibrava shot into the air just in time to narrowly avoid twin glowing scythe blade carving through Vibrava's position like a pair of hot knives through butter, tearing clean gouges through the stadium floor.
Niver didn't even give Grovyle any attack commands. What a fucking moron.
"Dragonbreath, Psybeam!" I ordered quickly.
Vibrava quickly fired a large gout of flame down at Grovyle from diagonally and above, cutting off the right side and the top while Misdreavous fired large and wide twin beams of psychic power from behind at its back.
Grovyle barely had any time to react at all, the attacks were on it that quickly. But, react it did. It spun in circle, twin Leaf Blades cutting through the attacks launched at it, though only managing to catch one of the twin Psybeam's, while the other washed over it.
Yet, it didn't pause at all, merely grunted, ground its teeth and gave a shout as it pushed through and cleared a path through the two attacks it was cutting into and launched itself out into the path it cleared, getting away from the Psybeam.
Yet as it landed and my two pokemon cut off their attacks. Grovyle didn't turn to face them. It...started to teeter back and forth in place on wobbly legs.
My eyes widened, 'It got confused by Psybeam!' I realised. A sigh of relief left me. Grovyle is so damn fast, that catching it in attacks even two on one would be a real problem.
"No god damnit! No!" Niver roared angrily, "Get your shit together you useless little piece of shit! To think I wasted my TM choice last month on you!"
"Dragonbreath and Shadow Ball! Bring it down!" I clenched my fists together and grinned.
Moments later, Grovyle was consumed in a wave of green and yellow flame and bombarded with exploding crackling, purples spheres of energy.
And when the smoke cleared, it was to reveal Grovyle face first on the ground, beaten and bloodied. Yet, its arms and legs feebly twitched and ever so slowly it began to try and force itself to its feet, a green aura beginning to form around its body.
...Is that...Overgrow!?
"Yes, that's it!" Niver laughed, "Show me that power! Show me why that stupid professor in Hoenn praised you so much!"
...Professor in Hoenn? Birch!?
I grit my teeth. If this thing got any more powerful, who knows what could happen. "Again!" I'm not going to risk it.
My pokemon repeated their attacks. Another Dragonbreath and barrage of Shadow Balls slamming into the Grovyle. And this time, when it smoke cleared, it didn't get up.
I wiped the sweat that had suddenly formed on my brow and breathed a sigh of relief. And it was then I noticed how shaky my body had suddenly gotten with adrenaline and how fast my heart was beating.
I barely even heard as the crowd exploded into a thunderous cheering applause and the commentator announced me as the winner of the tournament. And to meet the receptionist at the front desk to receive my winnings.
My eyes were instead on Niver as he returned Grovyle to its pokeball and directed a murderous glare my way, before he stomped off of the battle stage, down the stairs out of view.
...This definitely isn't over. I followed behind him a moment later after returning my two pokemon, giving him just enough time to get a bit ahead of me.
Even if he was content to just leave it at this. I can't let him go and rat me out to the rest of Team Snagem about me having Misdreavus and Vibrava, and worse than that, the Snag Machine.
When I walked down the stairs all of thirty seconds later, my eyes landed on Niver, standing in the middle of the corridor, eyes filled with murderous intent. "You might have beaten me in a battle you little punk ass bitch, but I told you, you aren't leaving here alive." the bald man snarled. He reached down behind him, and his hand gripped a black hilt, and it was just then I realised he had a large sheath across his lower back.
...That wasn't there a minute ago. I would have saw it when he was walking away!
With 'shing', a gleaming machete was unsheathed and with a bellow of anger the bald man rushed me, the blade held aloft over his head.
My first memories are of digging through trash bins for food. For the longest time, I didn't even have my own name.
The streets were a cruel place. You either got tough, or you died. You made tough calls and did things you didn't want to do, or you died. You either learned to take care of yourself, or you died.
Until I was eleven years old, I lived on the streets. And it wasn't until a local gang took me in that I got off of them. It was a street gang formed of ex-orphans and street rats just like me. Headed by a great man, who had a past almost a mirror-image for mine.
He took the name Cobalt. And he gave me the name Jett.
I worked as runner for him in the beginning. And in return, I got a safe place to sleep and warm meals to fill my belly, while earning money. And I was young, and eager to please. And please I did. It wasn't long before Cobalt had me in self defence martial arts classes. I wanted to be an enforcer for the man and the gang he ran, and strong enough to deal with anyone.
I dabbled in all types of martial arts for three whole years. Karate, Jujitsu, Muay Thai, Boxing and a few more. I picked up them up quickly, took what suited me, and blended it together.
And I was an old hand at this point, when it came to people coming at me with knives.
I juked to the side as he slashed at me and lashed out, my foot impacting his knee. He gave a yelp as his leg came out from underneath him and he hit the brick flooring face first.
He groaned in pain and was completely unprepared for my foot to impact the side of his head, right in the temple. He gave a strangled gasp, before going limp, the machete falling from his limp fingers.
Not wasting a moment, I quickly hoisted him up over my shoulder and grabbed the machete from the ground.
I hurriedly entered the closest locker room and dropped him onto the floor after closing the door behind me.
I wasted no time in unstrapping the sheath from his back and putting it around my own and sliding the machete into it, 'This'll do nicely.' I grinned, before working him over.
There was a golden watch on his wrist. Yoink, mine now. I found a wallet in his pocket that contained, one thousand, six hundred and twenty four pokedollars.
That would go a long way right now.
And then there was the cream of the crop. The two shrunken filled pokeballs, alongside six empty ones. Perfect, I wouldn't need to waste any money for the next little while on any, I'd still need to head to the Outskirt Stand at some point, just to confirm they had them though.
Shadow Graveler and Grovyle, all mine! Thanks Niver, you fucking scrub.
Sadly, I can't spend any time right now celebrating. I eyed the unconscious man below me, and sighed. "I can't let you tell your buddies about me." I told him, even though he wouldn't hear me.
I eyed one of the thick lockers sitting against a wall, before nodding. That would, I think.
I swallowed any hesitation, and unsheathed the machete. Then I reached down, and swiped the sharp edge of it along his throat. A river of blood began to pour down his neck a second later.
I turned away from the now soon to be dead man and made my way over to the locker I'd been eyeing and gritting my teeth, I heaved and pulled it to the side. Then I sent out Vibrava and had it create a small sand pit and then brought it back.
I quickly dragged the corpse over a moment later and stuffed it down inside the sand pit, before pushing the locker back over it and hiding it from view.
I eyed it for a moment, before sighing. It wasn't the first time I'd killed someone, and it probably wasn't going to be the last. At the very least though, I can sleep easy knowing it was a piece of trash like Niver that the world was much better without.
I quickly vacated the locker room and headed back through the corridor to the entrance, where I found the receptionist waiting for me with a smile.
"Hello again Jett," she beamed at me brightly, "Congratulations on your victory."
"Thanks." I replied, walking around to stand in front of her desk.
She shot a frown at the open doorway, "Odd, Niver has not come out yet," she mused softly, before shaking her and and turning towards me, "Well no matter, he must just be sulking in the locker room after his loss."
"Probably," I lied through my teeth with a shrug, "He did seem really pissed off."
She giggled, "Well, as far as your cash prize goes, the pay out is ten thousand pokedollars," she revealed, and my eyes widened, "On top of that we have a selection of evolutionary stones for you to choose from and TM's as well."
My eyes couldn't get any wider, "Do you have a Dusk Stone?" I asked eagerly.
She nodded, "We do, I assume you want it?" she asked, and I nodded. She pulled a key from her pocket and unlocked a drawer on her desk, reaching in to it to lift a stack of notes out and placing it on the table, and then a dark glittering purple coloured stone. "Now, as far as TM's go, we have quite the selection, those being; Giga Drain, Sunny Day, Rain Dance, Hail, Sandstorm, Protect, Solarbeam, Flamethrower, Thunderbolt and Ice Beam."
I whistled. Quite the selection indeed. And honestly, a really, really hard choice to make. Or it would be, if Protect wasn't there. Outside of the games, in the anime at least, Protect is absolutely busted, and near every pokemon can learn it. so once I teach it to one of my pokemon, I can have them teach it to the rest.
"I'll take Protect." I decided.
"Okay." she nodded, and repeated what she did before, pulling out a grey coloured disk, "To use it, all you need to do is thread the pokeball's button through the centre and it will automatically download the information through the pokeball into your pokemon."
I thanked her and accepted my winnings. And then, after bidding her goodbye, I wasted no time in getting the fuck out of there and making a beeline for my truck parked not far from the Phenac Stadium.
I'm heading straight for the pokemon centre, the only one in the city. And once my pokemon are healed up? I'm getting the fuck out of dodge. With my winnings, I have enough capitol to keep me a float for a while and I can decide on a plan of action and what I want to actually do here in this world, in Orre specifically.
Jett Trainer Card
Name: Jett
Age: 15
Occupation: -
Funds: 12,049 Pokedollars
Pokemon: 2
Notable Items: Snag Machine, Red Truck, Pokeballs(x6), Machete, PDA
TM's: Protect(x1),
Jett's Pokemon
Species: Vibrava (Shadow)
Gender: Male
Level: 32 (38)
Type: Dragon/Ground
Ability: Levitate
Relationship Gauge: 10.5/252
Attacks Known: Shadow Rush, Crunch, Sand Tomb, Supersonic, Dragonbreath, Steel Wing
Species: Misdreavus (Shadow)
Gender: Female
Level: 33 (39)
Type: Ghost
Ability: Levitate
Relationship Gauge: 10.5/252
Attacks Known: Shadow Rush, Shadow Ball, Confuse Ray, Psybeam, Mean Look
Species: Graveler (Shadow)
Gender: Male
Level: 30 (36)
Type: Rock/Ground
Ability: Sand Veil
Relationship Gauge: 0/252
Attacks Known: Shadow Rush, Rock Blast, Explosion, Rollout, Hammer Arm
Species: Grovyle
Gender: Male
Level: 33
Type: Grass
Ability: Overgrow
Relationship Gauge: ?/252
Attacks Known: X-scissor, Leaf Blade, Focus Punch, Iron Tail, Quick Attack, Solarbeam
And there we go lads. Another chapter down. Pretty short all things considered, but like I said, I'm not exactly aiming for something amazing or of good quality with this. It's just a stupid little thing to have fun with.