Scrafty and Genesect

They were hanging out by the chain link fence, a whole gang of them. They were accused of defacing property, attacking travelers without provocation, playing loud heavy metal music, and causing random acts of destruction. Low hung pants, gaunt frames, frilled red mohawks, toothy grins… surprisingly, they weren't a group of teenage miscreants. No, these were Pokemon. Six of them, all Scrafties, and they were watching her in turns.

The reporter did her best to stay calm while she and her cameraman filmed the news segment. But if the Pokemon started coming over here, then they would have to move. "Trainers often report finding a Scrafty or two in grassy patches to the south of this route," she said as the camera man recorded the six Pokemon. "But there have been no reports of them coming onto the road itself and claiming it as their own territory. While it is an entirely natural thing for them to do, it makes travel here more dangerous for those with no or weak Pokemon. Officials have put out a request to Trainers to capture these Scrafties to move them off of public property."

Over by the fence, one Scrafty snorted. "What're they going on about?"

The leader of the group, the one who had the largest head crest, clenched her fist. "Who knows? But this is my ancestral grounds, I know. They drove my gran'pa away to build this stuff, but he and my ma weren't bold enough to take it back. We have it now, though, and we're not letting them have it back. Right?"

The other five crowed in agreement, although one was tapping his foot. "They do make some neat things, like this music box," he said, indicating the stereo that had been left behind when they first attacked.

The leader put her hand to her chin. "Well yes, that is one of the better things. But they also put up this stupid fence in our way." She punched it with all her strength, tearing a large hole out of it and causing the whole structure to rattle and shake. "It keeps us from reaching the rest of my land, but it isn't sturdy enough to use as punching practice. Bah, what's the point of a weak fence?"

"One of them's coming from the other way!" one Scrafty called out, pointing to a man who was riding down the route on a bicycle.

The leader took a fighting stance. "Well then, let's take care of him," she said fiercely.

On seeing the group of Scrafties, the bicyclist attempted to swerve out of their way. Three of them heckled him with rough squawks before spitting acid at him. Two of the males darted over and tried to punch the bicycle as it wheeled past. Just behind them, the leader had picked up a rock that was bigger than her fist and threw it at the bike. That hit, breaking several spokes on the back wheel, which got caught in the chain and forced the bike to a stop.

Sadly, the bicyclist managed to hop off his bike before it fully crashed. He grabbed it and ran towards where the reporter and cameraman were. The Scrafty group hollered at him for a moment, but didn't pursue him that far down the route.

The reporter came over to him. "Are you okay, sir? They're playing rough lately."

"I'm fine," the man said, then looked down at his bike. "I'm afraid they may have trashed this, though." He sighed and pulled off a laptop case off the side to check on its contents.

"The alert about them has been out since this morning," she said. "The city's not that far down the route, so you could find a repair shop."

"Maybe." After giving his laptop a quick glance, he looked around the area. "Say, you haven't heard of any, um, unusual damage being done around here, have you?"

"There is that," she said, pointing towards the chain link fence with dozens of holes and rips along it.

He looked at it, but shook his head slowly. "No, no, that can't be it. Look, I'm with… err, I'm a scientist." He looked back to her. "I'm looking for a Pokemon that's escaped the lab. I have to get it back before, um, someone catches it. It's a highly valuable rare specimen, you see."

Her eyes brightened at the prospect of having a unique story for the news. "Oh, well we got out here just a short while ago. I didn't hear any reports of unusual Pokemon for this area, just the Scrafties over there off their usual grounds. But we can help you look; what kind is it?"

Hesitating, the scientist reconsidered asking a news crew to look for the lab's Pokemon. Then again, his bike was trashed and they only knew that it could head this way. "It's… prehistoric," he admitted. "It's the first of its kind that we've revived. It's a Bug and Steel type, and the damage it can cause is, well, distinctive."

Unknown to any of the humans or Pokemon on the route, the prehistoric Pokemon in question was watching from the trees. Her dark violet skin blended into the shadows while the many dark green leaves of the bush nearby gave her cover. She didn't really have a name, but the scientists called her Genesect. Breathing in deeply with the pores all over her body, she considered what to do now. She had run from the strange enclosed place; she needed a place to hunt and live.

Things weren't matching up to how they should be, though. She had some knowledge by instinct, but that didn't help Genesect identify the pale humans or the colorful gaunt Pokemon on the path ahead. However, any Pokemon that could afford that kind of brightness and survive had to be tough. There was also the difference in her cannon. She knew how it should work, but it didn't seem to be right. It seemed to be more powerful than it could be naturally.

Not that being more powerful was a bad thing, by any means.

Genesect crept out from the cover of the bush. This could be a reasonable territory, but if those colorful Pokemon ahead were holding it now, she had to figure out how powerful they were. With them in a gang like that, it would be a risky fight. Focusing on two of them, she let the cannon built up electric power. It hummed and grew warm, then caused a rip through the air as a bolt of lightning struck through the two targets. They collapsed into unconsciousness immediately, while the strange steel thing behind them sparked brilliantly.

On the road, the attack on their kin alarmed the four remaining Scrafties. "What in blazes is out there?" another female asked, crouching down and forming fists.

The leader snarled, infuriated at the attack on her followers. "An intruder," she finished with a growl.

Then she appeared: a dark violet creature about a head taller than them, with a strange cannon barrel on its back and a smooth exoskeleton. She gave an eerie rasping rattle, something filled with hostile intent. While it was a Pokemon, it was like none they had seen before. And the weapon on its back was starting to glow.

Not caring, the lead Scrafty pointed to it. "We're not going to let you get away with that! This is my territory and you will suffer!" Then she howled and led a rush towards the creature.

Down the route, the scientist felt alarmed for the specimen. "That's the one! Genesect."

"That creature?" the reporter asked, while her cameraman taped the on-going battle. "What did it do earlier?"

"Zap Cannon," he replied, as Genesect fired a different blast, this one brownish and dimmer. It knocked one of the Scrafty gang down, but he soon got back up. "And that was its signature move… it's extremely powerful."

The strange Pokemon had the bone plates and smell of a Bug type. But when the lead Scrafty struck her with her fists, she felt the texture of Steel. While Bugs usually resisted her fists, Steels usually broke under her power. But she was angered enough to not follow that train of thought any further. Instead, she kicked at the stranger's leg joints. "Are you scared?" she taunted. "You ought to be; we'll cream you."

Genesect heard the colorful creature's babble, but couldn't make sense of it. But she did understand that she was trying to intimidate her. Feeling that the taunt should be a bluff, she rattled again and swiped at all four of the creatures with her claws. They were tough, with their fists pounding on her exoskeleton. But she did knock one out, and pushed the rest back enough that she could jump back, lower her stance, then fire her cannon at them again. Another one fell.

Away from the fight, the scientist pulled out his cell phone and hit the walkie talkie function. "Yeah, Sage…" he glanced at the news crew, "Boss? I've found Genesect. And I've got civilians around."

Back in the fight, the Scrafty leader gave a shrill bark, showing her distaste for how the battle was going. "What the heck is wrong with you?" she shouted. Any other foe would have exchanged banter with her, or gloated about being at an advantage. This strange Pokemon? She only rattled and hissed in reply. "Show her no mercy, then!" She dashed to her foe and smashed into the joints between her skeletal plates. She knew many ways to fight. Surely one would defeat this creature.

Genesect turned her rattle into an attack buzz as the three remaining creatures rushed back at her. She was more powerful than them; she was certain of that. But there were more of them than her, and their attacks were strong. Before she could finish them all off, they could possibly knock her out.

In that case, she was going to make sure that they went down with her. She built up energy in her cannon, but didn't fire. Instead, she slashed again while waiting on the charge to build. It was taking much longer than it should, but eventually her cannon couldn't hold any more and exploded with energy. She fainted.

So did the three Scrafty. And the blast ripped out two entire sections of the chain link fence, smashed the stereo to bits, and stripped a few nearby trees of bark and leaves. Down the route, the humans felt the shock wave from the explosion.

"Oh my word," the reporter said. "It must be extremely powerful if we could feel that all the way over here."

The scientist was still on the phone with his boss. "Um yes, she just knocked herself out to win a battle… uh-huh… okay, I'll see you in a bit." He closed his phone up. "The others are going to be here to pick her up, but uh, we can't really do anything about those Scrafties." He turned to the two others. "Say, would you like to meet the director of the project?"

Some time later, a Trainer came down the Route to discover six unconscious Scrafties lying on the pavement, as well as the damage to the fence and the trees. But there was no sign of what had attacked them, nor of any witnesses to the battle. The reporter and cameraman were never seen again.

…

Scrafty Black entry: Groups of them beat up anything that enters their territory. Each can spit acidic liquid from its mouth.

Genesect White entry: This ancient bug Pokemon was altered by Team Plasma. They upgraded the cannon on its back.

The request was for Scrafty, but then I read that entry and was like, "Really, anything?' Yup, anything.