Prologue:
location: galar region
time 2 weeks before pokemon take over overwhelmed galar region.
"Come on out everyone" Alex said sadly taking his pokeballs off his belt and letting them drop the ground each one popping open one by one, his Gardevoir Nina, Cinderace Scorch, Golurk Tonk, Rapidash Cinder, Zoroark Fritz and Lopunny Jessy. All Pokemon of unusual size and power but each spending a lot of time with their trainer.
They sat on that field outside the forest surrounding Ballonlea with Alex letting out a long sigh tossing Nina the 6 Pokeballs, "they have chased me this far my friends… there's no way we can fight them and they don't seem to be hurting Pokemon but I have no idea where they are taking or what they are doing to the humans they grab so, go find out" Alex said his voice beginning to waver as his sentenced droned one.
Scorch extended a hand and brushed a tear away from Alex's face chirping out some noise that comforted Alex but he couldn't understand its full meaning. All Alex did was smile nodding then turned slinging his bag back on his back and marched off leaving them with only 1 last order "Nina is in charge".
Chapter 1: the runaway
"breath in and hold" Alex thought to himself as he levelled his rifle the iron-sights firmly over the head of a Team Rocket guard sitting up in a tree as opposed to the bush he laid belly down in. As he began to let his breath go he squeezed the trigger of the rifle before the thunderous crack of the shot was the only thing the forest could hear.
Earlier that day:
"Here! This is the spot" said a woman oddly dressed in a bright green dress and shirt with pictures of Bulbasaurs around the hem of the skirt as she trotted up to a tree to the edge of the Glimwood Tangle, "you know dads gonna be mad at us, me especially for letting you wonder this far!" barked back a Growlithe following the bizarrely dressed woman who looked no older than her mid 20s.
"I know I know" said the woman as she stopped and sat under the tree patting her lap for the Growlithe to lay "but it's my pocket money so I do with it as I please" she said with the practised grace of someone who went to one of the upper schools of the old ways.
The Growlithe rested his head on her lap getting his fur ruffled by her hand as she rested against the tree, she pulled a bright yellow purse from her pocket with various pictures of flowers dotted around it before laying it on her older brothers head.
Said brothers eyes shot open in alarm and she gave a little yelp as a male figure dropped from the tree wearing dark jeans that appeared to of been restitched together from spare material hundreds of times, a black long sleeved shirt with what she assumed to be faded blood spatters and more stitching and finally a black jacket made from a similar material to the man's trousers with the hilt of a knife in a pocket below to a rifle slung on his back.
"so you're Alex" she said keeping her brothers head down "I assumed you'd at least.. shower" she added pinching her nose, "name who or what it's you want and where" Alex said in an even more robotic tone than he used to have just 2 years prior.
"A Pokeball a very important Pokeball to me, Team Rocket have it and I want it back before they do who knows to my Pokemon" she said opening the purse and grabbing a fist full of notes and coins of various amounts with a single picture of the pink and gold Pokeball. Alex took the money and pockets it "I will head south then to start looking then" Alex said before walking into the forest.
Back to modern day:
Alex crawled away from the bush to another spot looking for more Team Rocket members when one popped up out of the ground, as the goon went to look at his fallen comrade Alex as quiet as the dead slipped down the hatch with his rifle slung against his stomach.
Quickly drawing his knife he pulls off a vent grate big enough to hide his body from the floor using the blade as a lever before laying in the damp metal trench below, pulling his jacket back over his head and his sleeves over his pale hands he decided to start crawling.
A faint scream came from the ground above and his crawling came to a stop as a few more guards passed to investigate, he breathed a sigh of relief cursing to himself about how the bolt handle of his rifle jabbed into his stomach.
He really couldn't take the jabbing pain of it and being sure he was alone for now he got out before breaking out into a sprint slightly hunched over from the bruising in his gut and chest, he made his way down what he realized was a very improvised bunker made from the remnants of an old underground maintenance yard for the electric trains built for the Underground that once took packages and people from Glimmer Tangle to Motostoke, Hulbury, Wyndon and more.
"Shit" Alex snarled as he quickly hid inside of a side room just before he could enter the main workshop, looking around the store room he thought to himself if that Pokeball could be in here. The idea that he could go from Pokemon trainer and Technician to "Runaway" as the few humans he has spoken to call him and mercenary was almost like a nightmare, what he wouldn't give just to go home with his Pokemon and sleep in an actual bed he could call his.
He shook himself back to conscious thought having searched the room as if on autopilot finding what he thought was some sort of manifest next to an active computer screen which showed damaged and corrupted camera feeds from the practically ancient cameras that hung around.
The one thing that interested him was the narrow gauge train in particular one of its small trucks nearest to the locomotive which was filled with, "Pokeballs" Alex muttered to himself as he pulled back the bolt on his rifle letting the spent shell inside drop to the ground before seeing a crate by his side, pulling open the lid he grabbed a rifle bullet from it then slid it into his rifles chamber and satisfied he grabbed a fistful more of them grateful to take anything of theirs.
He closed the rifles bolt with a faint click and strode towards the door as a Team Rocket member walked in, quickly Alex raised his rifle and sent the Team Rocket member to the floor with the buttstock of the rifle. The goon dropped to the ground with a soft thud as Alex left shutting the door behind him.
Alex dropped down as he entered the main workshop hiding behind an empty truck, he peaked around the corner counting 10 guards all of which were armed with automatic weapons a fight he really couldn't afford. He thought to himself how to sneak past or even fight them when there came a scream and a rush of flame.
A large creature unsure if it was human or Pokemon it was sheathed in a coat of fire and when it moved it sounded like a thunderous crack with the speed to match.
Suppressing a scream Alex did not waste time and pushed against the trucks brake, it slid loose before moving with him. When he got to the train he ran up to the end with the Pokeballs and saw the one he was looking for sitting on the top, he grabbed it and pocketed it inside his jacket before going to the small electric locomotive and pulled the coupling pin from it.
He gave a second to look back at what was fighting but only saw a flaming blur, not wanting to give a moment longer he hit the throttle and went down the tunnel leaving what ever it was behind.
Hours later he laid slump against the tree he met the girl and almost countless others on a mid summer afternoon, his back was to the sun that beat down as not to overheat but this also let him spy on these new "families" some of his clients were talking about.
He noted the way humans were dressed after the Pokemons "revolution" some dressed normally, some childish and some straight up infantile with the idea of being forced to be helpless sending shivers up his spine.
Though it brought him a tad bit of shame Alex almost jumped from his hiding spot as a ball landed by him, the girl that he had spoke to that morning toddled up to get the ball only to see Alex's pale and thin hand roll the Pokeball she asked for next to her ball before leaving.
writers note: i am back baby with a rewrite of an old favourite of mine to reflect the update in style.
where have i been? i have been on a tad bit of a journey but mostly sorting my life out now i have found reason to start writing fanfics again.
i hope you enjoy this remake