And the arc finally begins to wind down. Flame and company are now fixing up the mess that the war, getting into the odd fight. I just love the ending of this, it's a halarious picture.
Episode Ninety-Eight: The Aftermath
"Hey Squirt, gimme a hand with this rock here," I yelled across the street two days later, as I stuggled to shift a large piece of rubble out of the way of the road. I had to dive clear as Squirt used his water gun to blast the boulder out of the pathway.
"You could have killed me!" I yelled, which got a shrug from the turtle.
"But I didn't. So stop complaining," he called back before returning to his task of clearing up the smaller bits of rubble and using them to fill up craters.
The three Gym Leaders had managed to defeat all of the Rocket members with Alpha's team helping out, while me and Squirt were saving Pika. The Rocket's were on their way back to various prisons, all over the reigon so they wouldn't be able to pull another mass break out. The evil Nurse Joy had been one of those captured and was now on her way to prison in a place called Viridian.
On top of all that, the police found Ethan's body on the cruise ship that Onix had stopped. He had been stabbed, by three claws. I had a fairly good idea about the owner of those claws, as did Squirt.
"You think that Scarlet is on our side now?" He asked as he filled in the last crater on the street.
"I doubt it, she was itching for a fight when I last saw her," I replied, remembering something that I wanted to ask, "what the hell is a 'girlfriend' anyway?"
Squirt looked at me for several seconds in silence, I could see his emotions running through his eyes. First came shock, then confusion before he broke down into laughter.
"What?" I said, confused as to his reaction, "what is so damn funny?"
"Sorry sorry," he muttered as he got his chuckles under control, "I just never pictured you asking that."
"Well I did, so stop with the chuckles and make with the explaining."
"Okay. Now, how to put this so you will understand?" He muttered to himself, making me more confused.
"Just give it to me, you can dumb it down later."
"Sure thing. A girlfriend is a female."
"I figured that bit out," I sighed, "just get on with it."
"To which a male, that would be you in this case, is romanticaly involved. Lovey dovey and all that mushy crap."
I stood there for several seconds, my brain figuring out what it all meant. I suddenly figured out what Squirt had said, just as Vapor plodded up to tell us what street we would be helping to clean up next.
"Hey guys, finished already?" He asked Squirt, who nodded, "so, what are we talking about?"
"Flame here wanted to know what a girlfriend was," Squirt chuckled, "apparently someone suggested that a psycho of a Charmander was Flame's one."
Vapor glanced at me, while I glared back.
"I dunno who that might have been," he muttered, taking a step back. I could see the fear on his face and it just fueled my temper.
"Start running," I growled, narrowing my eyes.
Vapor didn't need to be told twice. He took off at a speed that you wouldn't have thought possible of him, what with the tail and whatnot.
"I'll kill you. You fuckwit!" I yelled as I gave chase, Squirt laughing his head off.
Ten minutes later, it was back to labouring away. I'd gotten bored of beating Vapor's head into a pulp, after a short chase that ended when he fell into one of the craters that Squirt hadn't gotten round to filling. I made a mental note to thank the turtle for doing a shoddy job later.
I still had some pent up rage though, which I let out by breaking some of the larger pieces of rubble into smaller pieces. Which, in turn, Squirtle used to plug some of the craters.
"I can't believe we found a job where your anger issues actually comes in handy," he chuckled, untill I lobbed a rock at him and gave him a bloody nose, "right. Shut up and keep working, got it."
I had only finally managed to simmer down by the time Moron came out with our lunch. Squirt got his usual Pokéfood with extra ick while I got a couple of apples, borrowed from a tree just outside the city gates. I had to hand it to Moron, he learnt fast that I didn't eat poison. Although I did have to gnaw on his leg a few times to get my point across.
"A few more days and everything will be getting back to normal," Moron said as he plonked himself down on one of the few wooden benches that had survived the war, most had been thrown at stuff as weapons, "then we can get on the road again."
"I'm looking foward too it," I said as I chomped on my apple. Moron jumped a little at my voice, I was still wearing the collar that somehow allowed them to understand my speech (Porygon had tried to explain it but he lost me after the word 'it') and it was taking some getting used too.
I had taken off most of the armour, but kept hold of the bracers. The rest of it was just too heavy and itchy for my liking but the bracers were fine and came in handy. I used one of the spikes on the left bracer to hold onto my other apple as I chowed down on the first.
Squirt watched me as he tucked into his bowl of repulsive ooze. I turned to stare back and he transfered his gaze to my nice shiny bracers
"Those things are lethal," he piped up eventually, "you really ought'a throw them away."
"Why would I want to do that?" I asked, "they are handy. I might ditch the collar soon, it's a little uncomfortable."
We both finished our lunch and went back to work, Moron helping me with shifting the rocks around. He was suprisingly strong and, between the two of us (mostly me), we easily finished the remaining streets before dark. As the sun set I spotted Porygon and Raichu ontop of one of the buildings, playing with wires. Suddenly the entire street was lit up as lights came on in every house.
"Booya!" I heard Raichu yell, "that's nearly half of the city back up and running."
"Good job fuzzy," Squirt called up there, "now get down here so we can go get something to eat. All this heavy lifting and stuff makes me hungry."
"Heavy lifting my arse," I burst out, "you were pushing tiny rocks around. It was me who got stuck with the proper boulders."
Raichu lept down in between us, just before a fight could break out.
"Many of the civilians are coming back now so the rest will probably be a lot easier as we'll have some help," he said, "so a couple of them took what food was left in the Rocket's warehouse and made a huge feast. And it looks like we are the guests of honour."
"And I forgot my tie," Squirt sighed, "how am I supposed to show off without my tie?"
"You manage without it nomally," I added, Raichu chuckling away.
"It is the principle of the matter," Squirt glared, "you wouldn't understand."
"Because I'm a country Pokémon, that is what you are suggesting? Isn't it!" I growled, causing Squirt to backpeddle.
"No, I never said that."
"Good, now get moving so I can get to this feast thing."
We started running towards the Pokémon Center, Moron tagging along behind us. Several other doctors and nurses had volunteered to take the evil Nurse Joy's place in running the Center so it was back up and running. Outside of it, I saw a long line of tables being set up. Upon which food was being placed.
"I love this job," Squirt muttered as he ran fowards. I would have followed but I was too busy trying not to drool.
About ten minutes later, many of the Humans and Pokémon that lived in the city had arrived. Some had brought their own food while others just helped out. I was roped into helping set up a small stand at the end of the table, which was going to be used a little later on.
Eventually everything was set up and everyone took their seats at the tables. Me, Squirt and the rest of the Pokémon Rebellion were placed near the stand in the seats of honour. It was slightly unnerving. Expecially when I was stuck next to Pika and Cubone, the latter of which had a case of the sniffles after Squirt threw him into the harbour when the war ended.
Officer Jenny stepped up to the stand and everyone turned to look.
"As I am sure you are aware," she started, "Team Rocket managed to cause this city a lot of damage during their little operation. Well, they would have done even more had there not been a band of Pokémon who stood up against them and fought like ones possessed. They didn't even have to fight, they were on vacation. Ontop of them, another small group belonging to two Pokémon trainers joined the fight. Between those two parties, the Rocket's were beaten back long enough for Gym Leaders and other Police agencies to arrive and help turn the tide. Those valiant Pokémon and their trainers are heroes and, for at least tonight, they shall be treated as such."
A huge round of applause from the civilians filled the air. I actually shrank back into my chair a little, embarrassed at all the attention. But Officer Jenny wasn't finished yet. She signaled for quiet and continued, "now two of those Pokémon, one from each group, can speak English. So let's get a few words from them. Porygon and Flame, come up here!"
The sudden silence was broken by a thud as I fell off of my chair.