WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS POKEMON DEATH
Michelle slapped another flyer onto the dining room table. It was a poster detailing wanted Pokemon. Her security officer's job application wasn't even processed yet due to high demand and slight infrastructure issues.
"Mom," she began. "I've got just the thing to pay for Fido's vet bills." She handed them the poster.
"You are my daughter. I can't imagine you fighting monsters."
Michelle frowned. The gun shops were mostly empty even after a few months, and getting double-aught buckshot was a chore. "Look, Mom. This is one way to get enough money to pay for Fido's vet bill. It's dangerous... but it is a way. Understood?"
Her mother hugged her. "I know, love. But please, be careful." She released Michelle and sat back down.
Her father groaned. "Honey... I thought I raised you better than this. Killing and violence solves nothing."
"It will, Dad." She smiled. "If these things are hurting people, it makes sense for them to be destroyed. That way, everyone can walk the streets safely."
The next day saw Michelle entering a sporting goods shop. She picked out a set of hard plastic guards – limbs, elbows, knees and torso – and a helmet. These would do until she could afford something better.
A trip to the gun shop was also in order. Though the shelves were still rather bare, she managed to pick up two 20-shell boxes of buckshot and a cheap Glock. It'd long been her goal to buy her own pistol once she'd held the position of security guard for at least a year, and that day had finally come. Technically she'd only worked there for nine months, but the arrival of the Pokemon demanded some extra firepower.
The store clerk watched her as she paid for the ammo and pistol. "You buying weapons? That stuff won't do ya too good against monsters of rock or steel."
"What won't?"
"The gun. Get an AR-15 or Desert eagle if ya want real stopping power."
She ignored the man and left the shop.
On the day of her first call-out, Michelle was introduced to the others who had signed up. She got paired up with a man and woman.
Tony, a burly man with muscles like hams. He carried an AR-15 in both hands, a pipe-wrench tucked into his straining leather belt. Anna, a woman cradling a baseball bat in her hands, a nineteen-eleven holstered at her waist.
Both visibly brightened when Michelle showed up with her shotgun and armor. Running a few laps in the backyard every day was all the training she got with it on, but it was far better than nothing.
"What should we call ourselves?" Tony asked.
"How about the Terran Preservers?"
Anna's voice came in. "That's as good a name as any." She looked at a slip of paper that had been given to her. "We've at an incident with Houndour. Fire breathing creatures. Man, I wish I had firefighting gear with me."
"Look, these things don't have eternally-painful fire. We'll be fine. Just stay away from their flames."
"That's easier said than done," Michelle replied. "At least they can't move stuff with their minds. Fire-breathing dogs are going to be the least scary things we fight soon, believe me."
The 'single' Houndour turned out to be a pack of three, lead by a Houndoom. Three people against four fire-breathing hounds.
Michelle dove aside as a stream of fire burned the ground where her head had been a moment before. She retaliated by firing a shotgun blast at the offending Houndour, causing its head to explode like rotten fruit.
That felt almost too easy. Weren't they supposed to be near-deadly for humans? Then again, she carried a shotgun and was wearing armor.
Meanwhile, the Houndour looked uncertain of what to do. Michelle realized that these creatures had certainly never seen a gun before.
An enraged Houndour leapt at Michelle's throat, fangs bared. She brought up her arm, its fangs leaving gouges in the plastic arm guard. Tony's AR-15 ripped it to pieces not long after.
Anna fired at the last Houndour. Its body crumpled into a heap.
All the while, the Houndoom watched. With a howl that made the hair of the trio's necks stand on end, it breathed a gout of toxic fire skywards and chared. Tony grunted and ducked before the fire could reach him, dropping his AR-15. Its polymer furniture had melted slightly from the heat. The creature was so focused on Tony that it didn't notice Anna sneaking up behind it with a baseball bat.
The first strike crippled its legs. A very dog-like yelp was heard from its maw. The next strike damaged its neck and caused it to become paralyzed permanently.
Anna glared at the Houndoom as it whimpered. She smashed its head using her baseball without a glance .
That was the last of them. She turned to leave with her fellow Preservers. They'd be able to claim the reward money soon enough - which was all they wanted, being exhausted from fighting. "Alright. We're done. Pack it up guys."
As soon as she spoke these words, two great beasts strode towards her. Reshiram and Zekrom.
"So, more humans come to fight Pokemon." Zekrom said. "I must admit the fires of your cause burns with you. Tell me, human, what is your motive? Why do you fight Pokemon so fiercely?"
"My family," Michelle replied. "They are all I had left when your kind came - my anchor which keeps me grounded in this new reality."
"No, that is not it," Reshiram said with a growl, tail flickering with unearthly fire. "You are hiding something."
"Fear. Of you," Michelle replied. The two Pokemon looked at each other. Dammit! She couldn't look weak in front of her friends, not now! "There is almost nothing we could do against you, even if everyone here fired until their weapons ran dry. Now, please, leave. My friends and I have some reward money to collect."
Reshiram sighed, even as Michelle continued, "I'm here to protect what is left of the ecosystem! This world had its own life, its own beauty before the Shift, and I intend to protect that by any means! The old Earth, where I was quite content and didn't live with the concern that my family would be killed if they ever stepped outside!" She aimed her shotgun at Reshiram's chest as the legendary's eyes widened. "I'll be damned if any fucking Legendaries got in my way..." Exhausted and out of breath from shouting, the shotgun clattered to the ground.
Reshiram looked at her for a few moments. "Michelle, your face contradicts your words."
"Yes," Michelle replied. "But, I cannot and will not forgive the beings who destroyed my home. Nor will I show mercy to the creature that tried to kill a member of my family. Do you two understand? Listen. There was a city in America, named Las Vegas, which was almost destroyed. I know, because I lived there. When I finally return to that city, it will be rebuilt, but I will likely no longer recognize it."
"Your world was burning and polluted before the Pokemon came. What do you intend to do, after you have accomplished your goal?"
"I believe I should try to rebuild my old life as best as I can. Once the world goes, I'll die hoping what I did was worth it in the end."
Reshiram turned to her, shaking its head.. "Goodbye, Michelle."
"How did you two know my name?"
"I am psychic. Or are you this much of an idiot?" Reshiram teleported away in a flash of light.
"Would you help me in my cause, Zekrom?"
"Your cause endangers both humans and Pokemon alike. I will not aid you."
Michelle's face turned hard. "Your kind will pay for what they have done to the people of Earth. All these cities destroyed. All the people and animals your kind have killed. They deserve vengeance." She shook her head. "What gives you the right to lecture me and my people like this?"
"The humans from which I came did not stoop to such lows."
Michelle laughed bitterly. She saw her fellow Preservers moving to follow her. Glaring at Zekrom, she left with one thing on her mind-
The war against the Pokemon had to be fought.
The end of the story draws near!
This story started way back, as an exercise in focusing on the darker aspects that the sudden appearance of Pokemon arriving on Earth would entail. Panic, fear and despair were what I wanted to focus on. Pokemon also have elemental powers unlike the animals of Earth, and would obviously pose a threat to Earth's ecosystem.