Taming Tyranitar


Alexander Redwood awoke to the feeling of his Turtwig, Terra, jumping on his stomach. He tensed his newly acquired abdominal muscles as the heavy little earth turtle kept jumping on him. Alex couldn't understand why, but Terra seemed to enjoy, for no apparent reason, sitting on him at random times. When he slept, when he did homework, when he took a rare day off to rest and recuperate. Today was one such day.

It was the time of the Solstice, a time when the entire planet celebrated the fact that the days would once more become longer. There had been a blizzard the Friday night before, halting all traffic from the University. Many people were now essentially trapped in their dorms for this holiday, and few liked it. Alex didn't mind though. The end of Festivus with his family didn't really appeal to him, so he'd taken a few days off from training, trapped as he was by the snow, and after Terra had demonstrated his ability to handle ice in its purest form, from nature herself, he decided that they could let this one slip by for once.

It just meant harder training later, but that would be easy enough to endure. The days of them struggling were long passed, and spring was approaching. With it, came the encroaching heat of summer, the first summer that he would be free of school, free to start his journey finally, and show the world what he was made of. He itched for the chance to prove himself, but for the moment, he could wait.


That day was spent much the same as the rest of their off days had been. Inside, enjoying the warmth of the dormitory in companionable silence. Winter had been long, and the sun had been scarce, so like most grass trainers, Alex had a choice. Keep his Pokémon in his ball, where the custom interior would keep his health at the perfect level, or buy a heat lamp and let him bask in its light for half a day. He'd gone with the lamp of course, but it had been too large to set up in his room, and the residential advisors were having none of that.

He wasn't the only one with a grass type however, and after agreeing to pay for the excess electricity, they'd allowed it to be set up in the workout room. On days like this, almost every grass type in the building gathered under the lamp to do absolutely nothing, but chill. While Terra was occupied with his heat bath, Alex occupied himself with what he usually did in his free time, which as a senior student, he had a ton of. He'd acquired the habit of playing video games on his laptop over the long years he'd been studying, and while his father constantly insinuated he did nothing but play them, they were little more than something to kill time with. He had a Pokémon now, and that was a full-time responsibility.


The last day of Festivus fell on a Monday, and the storm that had kept them indoors had been going since the Friday past, giving Terra and himself an abnormal amount of time to relax. After so much intense training, they were both starting to get twitchy. That was when the alarms sounded. Even though classes had been canceled, the university had still had to clear the roads and walkways for the upcoming day of foot and car traffic, and thus by now, the roads were relatively clear, the last storm of winter was gone, and the first thaw of spring had come later in the day, melting the snow slightly.

What the snow melt had brought however, was an unexpected menace. In the past, the most the university had had to deal with was flooding, a consistent problem, as it had been constructed near a river, with a town popping up around it. Even with the aid of Pokémon, there wasn't much one could do against a flood of water. This was an entirely different menace however.

Alex had been sharing a bowl of leaf with a few of the other grass trainers who'd only made an effort to know him because of how strong Terra looked. It was hard to tell for most people, but anyone who raised grass types couldn't call themselves much of a Trainer if they couldn't recognize a healthy one. Especially if they were in university. As soon as the alarm went off however the group had, much to Alex's amusement, shifted into a state of paranoia, hiding theirs bongs, lighters, and dousing the room with Sweet Scent provided by a Gloom.


Alex had stood then, and announced he was leaving, as the alarm was still going. Usually, it wasn't sounded for floods, and testing the sirens never lasted this long. As he walked back towards his room, he stopped cold in the middle of the hallway, drawing a few looks. He looked out the window to his left, in the direction of the main campus, and then felt a low rumble from the earth itself.

Being a Turtwig trainer, he could recognize an Earthquake with ease, as Terra often used it. It was his ace in the hole against fire types. Every quake was unique however, and whatever made that one was large. He turned on his heel, and ran down to the work out room, to find Terra was already in the hallway outside it, waiting. "Twig!" he cried, upon seeing his master, but instead of jumping on him, he desperately pointed his body towards the source of the quake. "TurtwigTurtwigTurtwig!"

Alex's eyes widened, "You mean…it's his? You're sure?" He got an affirmative sounding 'Turtwig', and then without another word, the two dashed for the back entrance, up Hell Hill, the only footpath into campus that went up an incredibly tough slope from their dorm, and into the main area. In the winter months, climbing the icy path was, quite literally, hell.


The sight that greeted them was one of chaos. The local police were doing what they could to keep gawkers at bay, but only from the most obvious directions. A quick diversion into the partially wooded area of the main campus let he and Terra slip by easily, and stay relatively hidden. The area just north of the main campus had definitely been shattered by an Earthquake, and not a natural one. In the center of the destruction, one of the Arcanine on the police force was trading Flamethrowers for Dark Pulses with a massive Tyranitar.

Alex swore, and Terra was next to him as they darted towards them. While the people of the university were generally kind, his country's attitude towards rampaging Pokémon was draconic, and not in a good way. Laws that had been set down centuries ago were still upheld, despite the fact that they'd become outdated in both morality and practicality, and yet any attempt to update them was met with stubborn stupidity, and cries of 'treason'. It wasn't that they were bad laws, they had worked well for a society that hadn't had Pokéballs, but now, they were just plain cruel.


The common practice for rampaging Pokémon now, especially one this strong, was to beat it into fainting, subdue it with ropes or other binding devices, and then ship it off to a lab to be studied. Alex knew the labs at least would treat them well and rehabilitate them, but it was entirely unnecessary, and removing Pokémon like Tyranitar from their ecosystems had often caused a whole slew of other disasters soon after.

And even though the Professors usually wished to return these Pokémon to their homes, they were forbidden to do so. Many eventually bonded then, but most commonly, Professors didn't have time to bond with a Pokémon that had issues of abuse or anger, and they were kept stuffed in stasis until someone came along to claim them. Nobody sane wanted a Pokémon who had a tendency to rampage however, so the number of Pokémon kept in forced stasis continued to increase.

It was a growing problem that was debated over every time one of them was caught. One side said to simply put them down in their balls. Others, appalled by that, fought with every legal trick they could to keep them alive. Alex refused to let this happen again. Not in front of him, not when he could stop it.


More than that however, was the fact that Alex and Terra knew this Tyranitar. They had trained with him in the large forested mountain to the north of the university, and through him, learned how to make both Terra's own Earthquake and Energy Ball much more powerful than any TM could instruct them to be. Therefore, the least they could do was keep him where he belonged. By the time they reached the site of the quake, they saw the Arcanine was down, along with the police chief's entire team. There was a reason this Tyranitar was king over such a large mountain. It had been one of the reasons Alex had risked asking it to help him train Terra.

"Energy Ball!" He gave the command, and while Terra obeyed, it was a smaller ball, barely enough to do any damage. It slammed into the Tyranitar's cheek, barely leaving a mark. It was however, enough to draw his attention away from blasting away the chief with another Dark Pulse. The chief noticed as well. He was an older gentleman, dark skinned, and with his hat missing, his balding head was visible. He was also a bit overweight, a life of policing a relatively calm university had left him unprepared to physically handle a force of nature made manifest.

"Get out of here, kid!" He shouted, "He'll blow you away!"

Alex ignored him. This was his mentor, so to speak, and thus was his responsibility to keep in line. One look at the great green beast, and Alex knew they had a problem. His eyes were narrow, like his focus, and there was no way he'd listen to him at the moment. Only a few species of Pokémon could lose control like this, which was what made raising them a challenge. Thankfully, he'd studied well on how to handle such rampages, and he had the perfect tool to stop this one.


A Dark Pulse formed in its maw, swirling around in a ball that grew ever larger. If there was any recognition, it was hidden behind the fury of being denied the kill. "He's rampaging! Terra, Energy Ball!"

This time the attack had his full power behind it, and as the two attacks met in the air, he watched with genuine curiosity. He'd first seen this Tyranitar's Dark Pulse used on an Ursaring that had been killing for pleasure, not food, and thus had earned a harsh punishment from Tyranitar, who had guarded the Pokémon that had fallen like they were his own.

It had blown that Ursaring away with one hit, far more effectively than Terra could have at the time, and that had been the start of his plan to train with Tyranitar. It had been as rough and terrifying as the Pokémon itself, but the results it seemed, paid off. The two balls of black purple and green spun against each other, and whizzed off in different directions, slamming into the earthy sides of the crater.

"Razor Leaf!" Their power was even, then. That was good enough for Alex. Terra wasn't even in his final stage yet, and as a true Torterra, he'd be much stronger. A small flurry of leaves shot into the green hide of the rampaging Pokémon, and it roared in pain, though it seemed more irritated than truly damaged. That was the great thing about Razor Leaf though. Despite being a ranged attack, it did physical damage, and though Terra's special attacks had become almost as good, his attack power was rivaled only by his natural defense. Speed was, of course, his Heracles heel.


Another Dark Pulse formed, and Alex stared. It was big, bigger than anything he'd shown Alex and Terra during their training. There was no question, that thing was going to blow a crater in the campus. The shock-waves alone would level buildings for sure. Whatever had made Tyranitar so furious was potent indeed. There was no control, no evidence of the kind, powerful teacher they'd known. Only rage.

"Energy Ball. Make it as big as you can, bud." Terra looked at him, fear written across his young face. "Do it! There's more than you and I at stake now. Attack!"

The little Turtwig nodded, even as the ball of dark energy grew well beyond reasonable size. There was no way Tyranitar would have any power left for another after this…though he wouldn't need another, if it landed anywhere near the campus. The police chief had run, or rather, Alex assumed he had. He was no longer where he'd been laying, but he couldn't concern himself with others right now. His entire focus, and Terra's had to be on stopping this bomb of dark type energy.


Terra however, was doing all the work. He'd had to learn how to use Energy Ball from scratch, condensing the power in ever-increasing layers on top of each other and woven together. Making one the size of Tyranitar's was impossible, not before he'd launch it, but Terra knew a trick. His father had once shown him that the earth itself could give him grass type energy if he needed it, but it was the end of winter. There was little energy left to draw upon.

That meant he had to draw from the only other source available: his fellow grass types. They gave willingly, at that moment, each of them sensing his need and springing from their balls all across the campus. He drew as much as he dared from them, and then drew from himself. He was too small for this much power, he could feel his entire form shaking from the strain of holding it together. He needed to be stronger, a Grotle at least, but he didn't have the luxury of evolving.

He would have, and he definitely could have, given his strength. Instead, he took what energy he would've used for that evolution, and poured it into this attack. It was risky, he knew, and he'd likely have to spend quite a long time recovering it, but he was a grass type. The sun, the earth, they would help him recover what he lost now. Had he been another type, he likely would've been crippled for life by such a loss, but even the most damaged plants could recover, with enough time. He wouldn't really need to worry about it until he became a Torterra. A form that large would need more energy, the energy he was giving up now, but would also be able to take in more than he ever could as a Turtwig. He could recover.


The resulting Energy Ball grew to about half the size of Tyranitar's before the large Pokémon noticed, and then launched the attack. The air rippled in the crater made by his Earthquake as Terra launched his own attack, and to his surprise, pushed the Dark Pulse back. Then he knew why. Tyranitar had shown him that one needed absolute focus to weave the shells of energy together in a sphere dense enough to be stronger than a normal Energy Ball. The Technical Machine had shown him this, but had failed to instruct him further, thus his energy balls had been good enough to take down water types, but more than a few ground types, like Golem and this very Tyranitar, had smashed right through it when he'd first started to train in the wilderness to the north.

In his berserk state, Tyranitar had drawn sloppily on his power. There were many layers to this pulse, but Terra's Energy Ball was breaking through each of them, and forcing it in the opposite direction. Finally, after about five seconds of collision, the rotation of Terra's attack launched the poorly made Dark Pulse in the opposite direction. Tyranitar had sent it in a downwards, diagonal line towards Terra, thus when it was repelled, it went upwards, diagonally, in the opposite direction. Terra's attack continued to repel the Dark Pulse until it finally faded away, but the momentum had already changed. Eventually, the attack detonated in the clouds, blowing a mile-wide circle in the cloud cover. Even though the counter-attack from Terra had weakened it, it had still possessed enough power to do serious damage. The shock wave of wind followed soon after, and the three struggled against it, but managed to hold their footing.


Back in the crater, the two Pokémon stared each other down. They were both out of energy after those attacks, and Alex moved quickly to his Pokémon. "Here." He whispered, handing the Turtwig an Elixir.

He didn't like using items mid battle, but this was still a dangerous situation. Tyranitar had other moves. Seeing what Alex was doing, the still furious Pokémon raised a massive foot, no doubt to cause another Earthquake, but by then, Terra was ready. He didn't even wait for the command, knowing what attack his trainer would call.

Another Energy Ball, though much smaller, slammed into the Tyranitar, knocking his balance off. He crashed to the ground, and the area shook again, but remained intact. As he started to rise again, still furious, a Razor Leaf ended the battle. Then, out came the Ultra Ball, as Alex heard people rushing into the crater. Tyranitar was captured easily, his remaining resilience utterly spent. He picked up the ball, and turned to see several teachers, including one he currently had a class with, and the police chief. "Hand it over, boy." The overweight chief said, panting and red faced.


When the local police were overwhelmed by such situations, that was when trainers stepped in. The trainers at the University were quite strong, and the strongest of them were the teachers. Like everyone else however, they had been indoors and south of the main campus, in their homes, when Tyranitar appeared.

Alex shook his head. "He's my Pokémon now. Legally, I own him. You can't touch him."

The chief blinked, and then his expression grew furious. "Listen you-" he started, but Alex's teacher cut him off. "He's right, Jeff. That Tyranitar is his now, and taking it by force would make you no better than Team Plasma." That gave the chief pause, and sighing, he nodded.

After that, Alex was taken down to the police HQ for several questions, and after they got his statement, he was free to go. News of the attack spread like wildfire, but, seeing as how Festivus Eve was that very night, most of the students had left long before they could find the identity of the trainer who'd taken care of a rampaging Tyranitar. By the time they'd returned to campus, they'd all but forgotten the attack, and in typical fashion, the University downplayed the whole incident, fixed, to an extent, the crater left by the Earthquake, and refused to comment on who had stopped it. After a brief phone discussion with Alex, who agreed, the police chief was given the credit.

A few weeks later, he announced he was retiring, saying that 'the whole incident made it clear that he and his Pokémon were getting to old for this shit.'


Alex had originally planned to stay at school for the holiday, but Tyranitar's capture made his belt feel uneven. He went home, surprising his family, and enjoyed their dinner. He stayed quiet though, not unusual for him, the entire night spent contemplating what he should do with Tyranitar. He'd be an absurdly powerful ally, if he could control him, and with an ace like that, he could beat the Victory Plateau.

He knew that…but it felt wrong. He'd chosen his team long ago, and while he liked and respected Tyranitar, he knew he wanted every one of his Pokémon to be trained from first evolution to last. He knew he'd never fully trust that Tyranitar wouldn't go berserk again, and also knew that he could control that fury if he raised one from a Larvitar.

Thus, Festivus morning, after gifts were exchanged, he headed out to the north of Derrion town in his car, with Terra snoozing by his side, as he always did on long car rides. The snow was still melting, which was the only reason he was able to make it to the camping site to the mountains far north of his home. It was the same range shared by the University, but this was the eastern side. He called Tyranitar out, sighing. The logical side of him was irritated, knowing that he was giving up so much strength was disheartening, but the trainer inside of him knew this was the right thing to do.


Tyranitar met his gaze, and then looked down, ashamed, only to notice he wasn't in a Pokémon center, or a PC pocket universe. This was a mountain, and a mountain he was familiar with at that, as his territory had ranged over the entire chain. He had rivals of course, and he couldn't patrol all of it all the time, but what rivals he did have knew he preferred the western mountains. Now, he knew, he would stay to the east. He looked at the human whose Turtwig he'd helped train as he began to speak.

"I don't know what drove you to become so angry…I know I'll probably never find out. I can understand you, to an extent, but this is…too much for the language barrier between us." Tyranitar nodded. The humans who had driven him to this state of fury had been eradicated, but this human didn't need to know about that. This was, unlike those who had ruined his mountain's landscape, a good one. He could tell, by instinct, that this human was kind, rather than greedy.

He sensed that this one would rather remove a limb than hurt a Pokémon, and it was that sincere resolve that resonated with so many of them in the wild. It was why he'd agreed to train his Turtwig. He had, within the Pokéball, been glad that it was this one that had caught him. If he had to have a trainer, he could think of no other worthy human. He said as much, with a deep "Tyranitar?"


Alex shook his head. That much, at least, he could grasp. He wasn't going to keep him? No.

"No, I'm not," Alex said, sighing, but knowing it was the right move. "I'm going to release you. Right here. But I need your word that you'll stay as far from humans as you can." The Tyranitar nodded, one powerful fist slamming against the chitinous green armor that covered his entire body in an eerily disturbing replication of a human salute.

"Raaanitaaaar." Alex nodded again, then smirked. He walked over to the massive Pokémon, who was taller than him by a few inches at 6,9, and pat his head.

"I've learned all that I can from you, old one. And, I beat you in battle. Thank you for teaching us. We'll use what you learned to reach the top." The large Pokémon gave a happy rumble, then blinked as the hand left his head. "I'll be back one day, to check on you. On that day, I'll want a Larvitar, sired by you, to train. That's my payment for keeping you out of a lab. I'll train him into a rival even you can't beat."

The Tyranitar nodded. Most Larvitar were left on their own anyways, but giving them to trainers ensured they'd become powerful. By now, most Pokémon knew that if they wanted to be the strongest battlers, they needed a human, and while plenty believed otherwise, they eventually understood once they ran into a truly powerful trainer. Alex gave a final wave, and then left with Turtwig, adjusting his hat. Their training was almost over. A few more months to help Terra master his final move, and they'd be ready for the final exam.