Chapter 2: Big City Ninjas?
Without telling his family, Naga walked right through Marigold town towards Vespa city. Cubone rode on Naga's shoulders. The journey there was long and boring. It took a day and a half, but Naga was luckily able to scavenge for berries to eat during a rest. The lush shires of the west coast provided easy access to wild food, but that wouldn't be a guarantee out west. Naga felt a bit embarrassed trekking through the suburbs surrounding Vespa city, his overalls, plaid shirt, and work boots standing out, clearly showing him as being from the country. When he got to Vespa city proper, though, that embarrassment was alleviated.
Vespa city was massive, and so dense no one could point him out in a crowd. With buildings larger than Naga ever imagined. It was dizzying! The biggest buildings were of course the headquarters for large companies; Silph Co., PokeMart, Dev-tech. Those were all companies Naga had heard about before, but one stood out to him; "Team Helix". Their logo was an orange DNA strand with red and yellow bars across the center, making a stylized H. As he looked around the city, signs for Team Helix said they were "On the cutting edge of human and pokemon genetic science." Naga didn't know much about genetics, or science in general. He knew that DNA made you look a certain way, and that your DNA was made from mixing the DNA from your ma and your pa, but not much more than that.
Naga tried to stop people on the street to ask for directions to the municipal capital building but everyone seemed too busy or too rude to give him a response. As Cubone shifted on his shoulder, it rubbed Naga's burn. He remembered what Kappa said about pokemon centers in Vespa city, and decided he'd look for one of those. Pokemon centers were way easier to find, bright red with a pokeball logo, and there was one right on the street he was on.
"Excuse me, Mrs." He asked the woman at the desk; A woman with pink hair pulled back into a bun, with a very stereotypical nurse's outfit. Her name tag said "Nurse Joy".
"Yes?"
"Is it true that this pokemon center helps people too?"
"Yes it is."
"Can I have help?"
"What seems to be the matter, young man?"
Naga pulled down the left strap of his overalls and started unbuttoning his shirt to show her the burn but she cut him off.
"Oh, stop! No need to undress here, sir. You can just tell me, and I can get you the help you need."
"I have a burn on my upper body."
"I see, please come with me"
She took Naga to a room where he showed her his burns. With the help of her assistant, an egg-shaped pink pokemon dressed in a nurse's outfit, named Chansey, she applied an ointment and bandaged his burn.
"Now, I'm gonna need you to change your bandages and apply this ointment once a day until you use all of it," she said, handing him a roll of bandages and a tube of ointment. Nurse Chansey handed Naga a plastic jar full of what looked like 15 or so eggs. "Canse-chanse-chans-EY!"
Nurse Joy smiled at Chansey,"That's right, and you should eat one of these with breakfast each morning!"
"Eggs?" Naga asked, confused.
"Oh no, not just any eggs! Soft-boiled Chansey eggs! It's a special ability Chansey has! A magically soft-boiled chansey egg can heal a pokemon a great amount. Humans less so, but it still helps speed up the healing process.
"Okay," Naga said, knowing darn well he wasn't gonna use these eggs on himself. He was a tough lad, he could tough it out on the ointment alone, and use the eggs to heal his pokemon when needed.
He put on his shirt and overalls, and when he got to the front desk he asked Nurse Joy, "Do you know where I could buy supplies, and where I could find a public computer? I'm a frontiersman and I need to get ready for my big trip!"
"Oh, well, you can buy medical supplies here, and anything else you might need for your journey can be found at the pokemart next door. As for a public computer, we have a few in the lobby!" She said, gesturing towards a row of state-of-the-art touchscreen computers.
Naga used the computer to find out where the Municipal Capital building was, and then he remembered this mysterious 'Team Helix'. He found their website and read about them. They seemed to focus on changing the DNA of people and pokemon. So far they hadn't done anything significant with humans, but they claimed to be working on an artificial pokemon, not a digital pokemon like porygon, but a real artificial pokemon, with plans on 'giving the powers of pokemon to humans' sometime in the future. Naga knew that some people, rare as they were, had powers comparable to those of pokemon, and wondered if instead of focusing on giving pokemon powers to humans they should be trying to learn how the powers those humans possess worked. Then he wondered if there was even a difference.
Naga bought supplies at the pokemart and at the pokemon center; Medicine for both him and his pokemon, camping equipment and food rations, a few books to read on the way, a blank journal. and 50 pokeballs. After all of that he was left with his original 1,500 pokedollars.
When Naga made it to the Municipal Capital building, the lobby was extremely elegant, with a glass chandelier and expensive paintings lining the walls. The receptionist didn't seem to be at the front desk, so Naga rang the bell for service.
Suddenly, a blue punching-bag pokemon sprung up from behind the desk, wearing a tie, along with a man in business casual attire, who stood behind him.
"WOBBA-Wo-Wobbuffet."
"Hello sir, how can I help you?"
"Uh, are you the receptionist?" Naga asked the man.
"Wo-wobbufett wobba-wobbufett."
"No, I am the receptionist," the man said, gesturing towards the Wobbuffet,"The man behind me is simply a translator"
"I…see," Naga said, slightly disturbed,"Um, I'm a frontiersman, and I was looking into starting an official expedition. I wish to travel to the west coast and explore the region, and I was hoping I could get some sort of government support."
"I see. Many frontiersmen have come to us asking the same thing, none of them have made it back or to their destinations safely however. Funnily enough, a young man about your age with green hair came in just yesterday with a request just like yours. That being said, it's not in the government's best interest to fund expeditions as it seems to be a waste of money when so many frontiersmen don't make it. We can, however, reward successful expeditions after the fact," The translator said on Wobbufet's behalf, Handing Naga a small,red ,circular device with a screen, some buttons, an odd slot, and a camera on it.
"This is the Merigo standard frontier tracker. It is a PDA linked with satellite GPS signals to track your movements, as well as being equipped with a camera, soil tester, topographical mapping tools, and other similar tools needed to collect data for an expedition. Collecting useful environmental data of unexplored areas will be rewarded heartily. The frontier tracker is capable of printing government debt-slips which are worth a certain amount of money. You can use those slips anywhere you would normally use money, and they can be cashed at any bank or official Merigo government establishment. Of course, the largest reward comes with reaching and mapping out a route to the west coast."
Naga took the tracker and had a giant face-morphing smile. While he was upset about the 'green haired kid' who he clearly knew was Kappa, this frontier tracker was exactly what he needed to live the life he wanted.
"Wob-Wobbu-Wobbuffet."
"We are sorry sir, but this is all the assistance we can provide at the moment."
"Sorry?! Are you kidding!? THIS IS A DREAM COME TRUE!" Naga yelled, planting a kiss on Wobbuffet's forehead, and running out of the building! As he ran down the street to catch up to Kappa he realized, this journey would be a long one. He could catch up to Kappa in the time going forward. What he really needed was experience with battling. He knew that there weren't going to be many gyms or dojos out in the frontier, so he decided to look for one in Vespa city.
"Master Fredo's Ninja Gym" read the sign outside. The one-story traditional dojo with a large courtyard behind it stood out among the modern cityscape. When Naga stepped inside, he heard a voice "HO! Young man, don't you know it's respectful to remove your shoes inside a place like this?" Naga turned behind him, and to his shock, there was a man, with dark red hair, dressed in a ninja outfit.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I don't know this Kanto stuff very much." Naga said, removing his shoes. He bowed "Sorry, sir."
The man laughed, patting Naga on the shoulder, "Ah, no worries, son. I just like messing with people like you. I am master Fredo. I must ask, for what reason do you seek me? You must be aware your pokemon is not one that lends itself well to the ninja arts. Is this a personal journey?"
"You could say so," Naga said, looking around the dojo. It was a mostly empty room, with padded mats in the center, some seats for onlookers, and a cabinet full of glass vials. A tapestry depicting a Kantonian landscape hung on the back wall, above a set of crossed katanas. "I'm a frontiersman, about to start my journey, but I know I'm not strong enough. I've only been in one battle. I was hoping you could give me some help honing my skills. Not as a long term student, sort of just some pointers I guess."
Fredo shook his head. "The way of the ninja is not one to be taken lightly or to be rushed!"
"No, please. I don't want to be a ninja, I just need battle experience."
Fredo chuckled,"You want battle experience?" He asked, before disappearing in a puff of smoke, appearing at the edge of the room with a pokemon. The pokemon looked like a long black and gold snake, with red fangs, and a knife-edge tail! "THEN FIGHT ME!"
"oh-I-"
"THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO GAIN BATTLE EXPERIENCE, SON!"
"Uh, okay," Naga said, taking his position at the other end of the battlefield. "So, what are the rules here?"
"A league has rules, the wild does not. Do what thou wilt, shall be the whole of the law," He said in an ominous tone. "I will let you know now, you will not win this, boy. I trained for years under Master Koga. Use this as a learning experience. See what I do and learn how to defend yourself. You need not worry about being poisoned to death, we keep antivenoms for all our methods on hand."
Naga nodded.
"BEGIN!" Fredo yelled. Immediately his pokemon slithered forward toward Cubone. When it got close it lunged forward, yelling "Seviper!" Cubone batted at Seviper's face with its bone club, and while it did hit, it didn't stop Seviper from wrapping its tail around Cubone, constricting it.
"Cubone! Fight back! Try to break free"
"Do what thou wilt!" Fredo yelled back at him.
"What?"
Fredo got a stern look on his face, "SEVIPER, USE YOUR POISON FANGS!" It's fangs dug into cubone's shoulder injecting him with poison.
Naga stood scared, unsure of what to do.
"DON'T HESITATE, KID!" Fredo yelled. As Naga looked up at Fredo, he wasn't there. Instead, he felt Fredo's forearm against his throat! He had Naga in a chokehold. 'What, can he do that!?' Naga thought to himself. Fredo pulled tighter, stabbing a needle into Naga's neck. Naga felt his body getting weaker, as his veins started burning.
And that is when it clicked. Naga and Cubone where in the same situation. There are no rules in the wild. Humans, pokemon, a fight is a fight. He wasn't battling his Cubone against Fredo's Seviper, he and his Cubone were fighting Fredo and his Seviper as teams.
Naga tried to pull Fredo's arm off his throat with one hand and punched at his face with the other. Fredo let go and stumbled back, and Naga went running for the katanas. He grabbed one unsheathed it, only to find that they were wooden, practice swords. Continuing his movement, as to evade Fredo, Naga ran and bashed Seviper with the wooden sword, batting it off of Cubone!
Naga surveyed the situation. Seviper was on one side, standing in front of the cabinet of poisons and antivenoms, with Fredo on the other side of the room. "Cubone, at Fredo!" He yelled, both him and Cubone went running towards the man, as Seviper charged behind them. Moments before they met, Naga grabbed his roll of bandages and tossed one end to Cubone, holding the other in his own hand. "TEAM WRAP!"
Naga and Cubone ran circles around Fredo, wrapping him in the bandages. Every step was harder and harder for the both of them, but they tried their best to push through the poison. As Seviper tried to stab at them with it's poison tail, they pushed Fredo over into it, impaling him on his own pokemon!
Naga and Cubone laughed and pointed at the enemy team. This angered Fredo, who let out a mighty yawp as he flexed and broke the bandages that held him. He was holding back, he was holding back the whole time.
"Smoke screen!" He exclaimed throwing a smoke bomb while Seviper shot a black smoke from its mouth. The smoke filled the room until Naga and Cubone couldn't see at all. After that, the battle was decided. Fredo and Seviper wailed on Naga and Cubone, beating their face and kneeing their stomachs, slashing and bludgeoning them as the poison burned their veins, until they went unconscious, and even then Fredo and Seviper kept beating until they were satisfied!
Naga and Cubone woke up on their backs, laying on mats. Their wounds were tended too and antivenom applied.
"People may call me brutal," said Fredo,"even cruel, but I always fix the things I break."
Naga sat up, holding himself up with his elbow.
Fredo asked,"Do you want to know why you lost that fight, Naga?"
"Besides the fact that you're an experienced ninja and I'm a teenager?"
"Yes, smartass, besides the fact I could kill you where you lie at any moment!" Fredo said, with a stern, frustrated tone.
"Yeah," Naga replied, keeping the cocky attitude.
"It was because you took the time to gloat and laugh before the battle had truly ended. If you were smart you would have booked it for the antivenom cabinet, but instead you stood there and did nothing."
"I see. In the wild every second counts."
"Exactly. Someday, with enough training, you and your pokemon will know each other well enough that you won't even need to waste time commanding them, they will simply understand you. My commands to Seviper were only to help you."
"Well," Naga said, getting up,"Thank you for this training experience," he bowed," I appreciate it very much Master Fredo. But for now," He put on his shoes,"I must get going. The frontier awaits!"
Author's note
Team Helix is not my original idea. Team helix was first thought up by my friend Yoshistarhunter on discord for his pokemon tabletop game.
