Hey, read and review please!~ Enjoy this chapter, my longest so far. Longer ones soon to come!
Stella was just finishing helping her Pachirisu apply the finishing touches to a passive aggressive note towards Machamp, who insisted on leaving messes everywhere he went. Machamp didn't have to spell it out for Stella though, she knew her mother probably set him up to it, but she couldn't let it slide. Her mother would end up seeing the note anyway.
"Great job Pachi, think you're in the mood for battle practice now?" Stella asked, as she had wanted to do such for a while. Pachi nodded, figuring she wouldn't get out of it. The two walked to the park and scoured the park for trainers.
Stella spotted an elderly man speaking aloud. He had a Gallade with him, which moved gracefully and was attacking a tree. The Gallade didn't use any moves, it only kicked and punched the tree to the man's words. And then the man stopped, and Gallade stopped. The elderly man seemed to be praising the Gallade, and then they walked away as if nothing happened.
"Hey! You! Guy!" Stella called out, running towards them. Pachi followed at her heels as usual. The man turned.
"Hm? How can I help you?" He smiled feebly.
"I just wanted to say that I saw you and your Gallade, and he looks pretty tough. Do you think we could have a battle? I'd like to train my Pokémon a bit more." Stella asked, motioning briefly to her Pachirisu. The man laughed.
"If you insist, but I'll warn you, my Gallade is very strong. I don't know if your Pachirisu could beat him, so don't be disappointed if you lose, Miss." He claimed, and Stella raised an eyebrow.
"The name's Stella, and you, old man?" Her demeanor changed.
"Ah, Mr. Jacobs is fine. Let's get started, eh?" The old man replied and made a gesture to Gallade, who stepped forward, looking confident.
Pachi darted forward, eager to prove the man wrong. Gallade readied its arms, and the tiny rodent sprung up into the air towards Gallade. Gallade deflected the rapid strikes as the Pachirisu continued to dash at him. Occasionally Pachi would change directions and locations, instead aiming at Gallade's feet, to which Gallade sidestepped and hopped backwards to avoid.
Stella looked up at the old man, who was making gestures with his hands. She noticed Gallade would look towards him every once and a while, receiving orders and delivering orders. A light went on.
"Mr. Jacobs, do you mind if we chatted a bit while they fight? I'd like to know a few things." Stella questioned, already making her way towards the man. She exchanged eye contact with Pachi once, and nodded briefly before turning back to Mr. Jacobs. His hand gestures lessened as she came nearer.
"Ah, sure, sure. What do you want to know?" Mr. Jacobs asked hurriedly. Stella looked at the battle out of the corner of her eye, and was pleased to see Gallade was reacting a bit slower to Pachi's moves.
"How'd you get that Gallade? I don't think I've seen you around very often, but it seems very strong. Usually the strong trainers are well-known around here." Stella questioned.
"Oh, I've had him since he was a Ralts. You haven't seen me because we normally don't like to be seen. I run a small shop at the other end of town."
"Why did you decide to take him out today?" Stella glanced over at the sparring Pokémon and saw Pachirisu was chomping on Gallade's legs. The strong Pokémon kicked in the air in return, but Pachi only jumped up and landed on his face. They only sparred, not with moves.
"Well…" Mr. Jacobs looked nervous, but Stella wasn't sure if it was because her Pachirisu was creaming his first class Gallade, or for another reason. "A suspicious man came to my shop the other day, and said he would be coming back today. I let him snoop around my apartment because there was nothing of value in it, and I don't know what his purpose was. But I will show him no mercy today. Gallade will easily overtake any Pokémon he has."
"A suspicious man?" Stella confirmed, now genuinely interested.
"Yeah. He claimed to be checking my house for rodents. I don't know what he was after, but he'll be running home for his mama today!" Mr. Jacobs seemed so excited at the thought of that that he threw his fist into the air, and Gallade thought this was a command and did the same. Pachirisu took the opening and tackled the best she could into Gallade's face, sending him off balance and tumbling to the ground. Pachi batted at his face with her paws, giggling. Stella laughed aloud.
"Well, I'll be seeing you Mr. Jacobs! It was a pleasure to see your Gallade spar." Stella said with an air of confidence, and motioned for Pachi to go along with her. The two shared a silent win and were on their way.
Mr. Jacobs helped Gallade up and sighed. "I should have known better I guess. Gallade, it would do you some good to practice without my help. After all, even if I have the brains, you're the brawn. I'm just an old man…"
Gallade gave his owner a comforting pat on the back, and they meandered off back to Mr. Jacobs' shop.
"Pachi, let's find out where Mr. Jacobs lives, okay? We can visit him and his Gallade sometime." Stella suggested, looking down at her furry friend. Pachi gave her a devilish look and Stella laughed. "And you can beat him up again."
The two began to chat as they wandered around the other side of town. Stella kept her eyes peeled for a knick knack shop, but instead saw a crowd.
A small crowd of people was gathered around a building front, whispering frantically among each other. Stella picked up Pachi and squeezed her way through the mob of humans to get to the front.
Mr. Jacobs was standing just outside a small store front, presumably his shop, Stella thought, and a man dressed in dark clothes was in front of him. Gallade had its armed raised for combat, steadying itself next to its owner.
"Mr. Jacobs! What's going on? Is the suspicious man?" Stella called out, and both Mr. Jacobs and the man in dark clothes looked up.
Stella's eyes widened and her face contorted into a snarl. It was Earl Wavers, in a dark trench coat and fedora. He did look stylish though.
"Why, isn't it the annoying brat at the park. Go home, kid." Earl spat, adjusting his trench coat with pride.
"Don't worry about it," Mr. Jacobs said quietly, "My Gallade can defeat any Pokémon he throws at us."
Earl raised an eyebrow at Mr. Jacobs' last comment, but shrugged.
"Let's take this to the roof, it's my place of business." Earl suggested, and dashed through Mr. Jacobs' store front and into his apartment before anyone could object. He appeared a moment later on the rooftop, calling down to the crowd.
"Attention! My name is Earl Wavers, and I am the head executive of Team Em," Earl began, giddy at the thought of being an executive. "My girlfriend and I are going to show you all something that we hope will change your attitude about Pokémon teams. After all, Team Rocket is horrible, so why should you fear us? Well…"
Earl threw off his trench coat and fedora, moved out of the way, and a fiery red head leaped to the top of the building. At least, it looked that way. Really Earl had set up some stepping stones behind the store, and Margot only had to make one short jump for the effect.
Margot was carrying a dark garbage bag slung over her shoulder, and she wore a red tank top and a black skirt that went to her knees. She was wearing black flats. Earl had a well built body, shown off by a dark undershirt and loose jeans. The crowd murmured amongst themselves.
"Focus!" Margot snapped, trying to continue where Earl had left off.
"Not so fast, creeps! I demand that you battle my Gallade, and if you lose, you'll leave!" Mr. Jacobs called out, his neck craned backwards to see the rooftop burglars.
Earl laughed, a genuine laugh.
"That's pretty funny, old man. Didn't we just said we're not Team Rocket? Those sissies need to get a grip and start acting harsh." Earl snapped his fingers once in an attempt to look cool, and Margot opened the garbage bag at that cue.
She threw the contents out at once at the crowd below. Stella backed up in time to not get hit by the clear baggies that were being shot out, but her grip on Pachi tightened in horror as she saw them hit the ground and break.
The concrete was a bloody mess of organs and guts. Eyeballs rolled down flat surfaces, broken hearts dripped red goop onto passerby's shoes. A few bags hit the crowd, and screams filled the air. Stella darted down the street a few yards to watch from a safe distance until the panic had subdued.
"People! We have done you a favor! This old man here is an example of the crime we wish to eliminate! Humans are obviously meant to be the dominant species on Earth, but Pokémon get in the way of that! They only exist for us to rule over, but many Pokémon are too powerful for us to rise up against, and so this happens!" Earl shouted, waving an arm over the bloody mess below him.
"We will have to kill the strong Pokémon that oppose the human race, and their numbers will dwindle!" Margot added strongly. "And we can even use their furs to make cute coats!"
Cries of outrage came up from the crowd, as many Pokémon were released from their capsules to attack. Gallade leapt into the air with strong legs and landed on the rooftop in front of Earl. He snarled at the unshaven man.
"Fight or leave!" Cries came up from the crowd again.
"H-How dare you!" A childish voice rose up, and Stella recognized it. She looked in the crowd to spot the girl who had kicked her in the shin just the previous day. Her Azurill was bouncing angrily as well.
Mr. Jacobs rushed over to the little girl and pulled her close to him. Stella made out bits of his conversation, "my granddaughter", "be careful", "stay here", etc.
Stella pushed her way through the crowd again, avoiding the spilled guts on the ground, covering her nose with Pachi's fur to hide the stench. She approached Mr. Jacobs and the little girl.
"This is your granddaughter?" Stella asked incredulously. The girl looked up in shock.
"Yes, this is Kia. Why? Have you two met?" Mr. Jacobs asked, curious.
"I guess you could say we have." Stella mumbled, deciding not to press on it further.
"Well, all of you should go home! It's dangerous here! Kia, you can come visit another day." Mr. Jacobs warned, eyeing the bloody ground nervously.
"You just said I should stay here." Kia whined, but Mr. Jacobs shushed her.
"Enough! I'm not leaving until Mr. Wavers up there sees the error of his ways." Stella countered, and moved backwards to peer up at the roof. To her utter shock, Earl was fighting Gallade himself!
Gallade darted back and forth, not sure what to do, as Earl jabbed at his sides with his own deadly arms. The green and white Pokémon made a swipe for Earl, but Earl ducked down and kicked Gallade's legs in one swoop.
Gallade tumbled backwards and off of the roof. The crowd gasped and moved frantically, but Gallade found space to land on his feet, which ached from Earl's hit.
He fell against the ground in pain, and Mr. Jacobs said soothing words to him before putting Gallade back in its Pokéball.
"Look at how much Pokémon have sickened the human race! Can none of you fight for yourselves? If you think you can defeat me, step up!" Earl hissed, and no one moved.
Kia's Azurill was squeaking away and bounced on its tail as hard as it could in anger.
"Zuzu, you'll hurt your tail!" Kia scolded, trying to control her Pokémon. The blue bouncing ball only squeaked louder, face flushed at Earl. It bounced as high as it could as Kia was coming towards it, and managed to grip the top of the roof with its tail. "Azurill!"
Earl raised an eyebrow and grabbed the tiny Pokémon by its tail. And then it screeched like a Banette as it was dangled in thin air. Kia began sobbing immediately. Stella ran into view of Earl and cupped her hands around her mouth to yell. Pachi tried to yell with her.
"Stop at once, dammit! Get your hands off of that Azurill! It can't defend for itself very well!" Stella snarled, to which Kia managed to glared at her for during her sobs.
"What if this were a Magikarp? Magikarp can't defend for themselves, but what if it evolved? There would be a monster among us! How can you not see the threats of Pokémon?" Earl demanded, shaking the Azurill.
"Pokémon are here to work together with us, we wouldn't betray them!" Stella shouted, but her cry may have gone unheard thanks to the roar of sirens. Cop cars were cruising into the area. She saw Earl flinch momentarily, but shrugged.
"These cops suck anyway, time to scram, Margot." Earl mumbled softly, and then shook the Azurill some more before reaching into his shirt and pulling out a blade.
Azurill screeched at the threatening knife, and struggled even more.
"Zuzu!" Kia screamed, and the poor Azurill looked in her direction with a new expression. A determined expression, a face of hope. With a single chirp from Azurill, she began to glow.
"It's evolving!" The crowd gasped in delight, hoping to greet the Marill to the world. Maybe evolved, Marill could do some damage to the baddies.
But Earl only held his blade out, watched the light of evolution reflect off of it, and sliced the air.
The blade did its damage swiftly.
At once there was light, but just as soon it was gone.
The beams disappeared in a howling cry, and there was nothing. Only Earl holding his hand out over the air, nothing in it, his other hand holding the blade that had swung.
Everything was silent for a moment except for the wailing cop cars. It was only a few seconds, but it seemed like a lifetime before Earl shrugged, dropped his pose, turned around, and ran.
There was so much confusion, the cops didn't even bother chasing after him.
What just happened? A new problem and a strange, strange event. Review if you haven't, please!