Notes: Okay so somehow this chapter that was going to be a one off, just having a new Pokemon catch spiraled out of control into a massive chapter as long as the Misty rematch. Not quite sure how that happened tbh. (Also, thank you MaddyHatty for your advice on two of the Pokemon appearing in this chapter! If you one day end up reading this, you rock girl!)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextA howl cut through the darkened forests, and the Houndour whimpered hearing the sound right at his paws.
He let out a whimper and looked back towards the egg, in a stolen satchel. He whined, knowing his pursuers couldn't be too far behind.
The moon rose high over a dead oak tree, illuminating the grovel and that's when he heard the snarl. A Mightyena leaped out of the underbrush, fangs crackling with electricity. The Houndour leaped backwards, the doberman-like Pokemon spitting small flames at his attacker.
The wolfish Pokemon howled in pain, and the Houndour whimpered again, knowing the whole forest probably knew where he was. That man… his hounds would know exactly where he was and he knew they couldn't be that far behind if this one had caught up to him.
He broke into a sprint, dashing through the undergrowth. The egg rattled and shook inside the satchel, and Houndour whimpered again. He couldn't risk damaging the egg, but he had to keep running.
He just had to.
"By Arceus…" he prayed to himself. "Please… someone, anyone, I need help! That man… he's going to… I have to find help somewhere, before it's too late! Who… who steals that?I've got to…"
He tripped and the egg went flying, with the dark-type only barely managing to grab it in his jaws.
"Don't break, don't break, don't break…" he pleaded to himself and he sighed in relief seeing the egg was just fine. Though for how much longer, he didn't know.
Throwing the egg back into the satchel, Houndour ran.
He didn't know where he was running, but the further away from that man the better. He heard another howl coming from somewhere close behind.
"They're catching up…" Houndour knew and he didn't dare look behind him. He was terrified of what he'd see.
Running towards a nearby cave, he figured it'd be a good place to hide. And maybe it led somewhere, maybe it led nowhere. Anywhere was better than out here in the open.
"...unless, that's what they're doing, they're herding me like Wooloo to this cave, boxing me in. Chasing me towards a dead end…" the dark-type realized, eyes widening. "...of course, I don't have much choice to spring their trap, do I? I'm exposed, I'm out in the open, they could come at me from any side…"
He whimpered and let out a whine, he'd have to chance it. He had to get this egg to safety. There had to be a town somewhere nearby right? Someone, anyone who could help. There was that Jenny family, right? Those humans who all seemed to look alike? If he could just get them to understand…
He heard a Snarl from the nearby underbrush and he quivered in fear. The attack itself didn't do much damage, but the growling and muttering certainly made his fur stand on end. Yellow eyes glared at him from the bushes and a Mightyena slowly strode out of the underbrush with fangs crackling with sparks.
Houndour whined, not him again! The Mightyena lunged towards him, fangs glowing golden with electricity. Houndour rolled to the left and let out another Ember with the Mightyena howling in pain, flames licking at his dark fur.
That's when two more Mightyena walked out of the underbrush, both looking equally as vicious. Houndour whimpered and quickly started to run when he saw them charging up Hyper Beams.
"Just gotta dodge…" he thought to himself, knowing both attacks would leave both dark-types exhausted. He leaped behind a rock, letting the boulder take the full force of the golden beam. But the second attack sent him flying.
He howled in pain as he smashed into a tree, toppling it like a domino. He was breathing, panting hard even as the Mightyena regathered their strength. Seizing his chance, his heart pounding, and his paws beginning to ache, he just kept running.
"Kooooooooffffffffffing!" came a cry, the living ball of gas floating down in front of the dog and blocking his way into the cave. Another one of that man's hunter Pokemon.
Another whine, the doberman Pokemon asking: "Why me?" as he looked to the sky.
Poison gas spewed from the Koffing, and Houndour looked to see the first Mightyena leaping towards him. His fangs crackled with another Thunder Fang and Houndour whined in fear, thinking to himself: "Just gotta… Just gotta dodge it!"
The spark, that single spark was all that was needed. Koffing's smoke caught fire and Houndour leaped clear of the explosion and into the cave.
He tripped, and stumbled down a hill, rolling down it deeper into the cave and laid on the cavern floor all four legs splayed outwards.
Barking came from behind him and he saw the three Mightyena growling and snapping at the air.
"Don't they ever give up? They've got to be just as exhausted as I am!"
He kept running, seeing a light up ahead and his eyes widened as he found himself on the edge of a cliff. Down below, nothing but the rushing, raging waters of a torrential river.
"Nowhere to run… nowhere to hide…" one of them said. "Now just give up the egg, and this won't hurt quite as much."
"Where are you even going to go?" the female of the trio said, clearly the pack leader by her larger size. "Look at where you are, there's nowhere to go but down!"
"You might say you're all washed up!" the first said, with a laugh. The third and final member of the trio laughed as well, sounding utterly insane and gibbering incoherently.
The female bonked that one on the head with a paw, snapping: "Focus, wouldja?" as her fangs crackled with electricity. "Don't make me use these on you!"
"Yeah, you'll be shocked!" the male joked, while the third only laughed harder. Houndour backed up, hearing a rock fall down into the rivers below.
"So, what's it gonna be? The painful way, or the really painful way?" the female asked, Leering at Houndour.
He whimpered, unconsciously letting loose with a Smog attack. He tried to run, but he was hacking and coughing from the smoke. He lost his balance and he realized only too late he was falling.
And the river rushed up to greet him.
He coughed and gasped for breath as he tried to grab a branch, or anything to pull himself out of the raging torrents.
"The egg! Nononononono, come back!" Houndour said, seeing the egg float by him and his eyes widened in horror as he realized where he was going. Futility reaching to grab the egg, in an attempt to hold it tight, he whined in fear, thinking: "Oh no… A huge waterfall, sharp rocks at the bottom most likely… Whhhhhhhhhhhhy meeeeeeeeeeee?"
And he looked back to see a massive log rushing towards him, and then all went black…
—-
Daybreak came, a scorching Sunday afternoon as our heroes headed towards their next gym badge.
"I think we should take a break right here," Brock said, his shirt tied around his waist as the trio sweated in the afternoon sun. "We're still a bit aways from the next town, and checking my map, it says we're still about a day's walk from the nearest Pokemon Center."
"I feel like I won't even last a day…" Ashley sinking down to her knees, from the heat and fanning herself with her hat. "How do people in Hoenn even handle it?"
Erika fanned herself as well, nodding. "I think Brock's right, we could all use a break and we're by a river so why don't we all go for a swim? Now where did I pack my…"
"A-A-A s-swim, l-like in y'know, b-bathing suits?" Ashley swallowed, looking down at her developing body or well lack of development really. D-Cells still needed time to do their stuff and her body still looked distinctly masculine.
Erika hugged her. "It's okay, you don't have to show us anything you don't want us to see right now, give it time okay? You'll look just as beautiful as I am, one day. Personally, I think you already look adorable, as is. There's nothing for you to be ashamed of…"
"...That's your opinion…" Ashley muttered to herself, with a sigh. "I, I just still don't feel right, y'know? Like… I still feel like a guy and if I change I'll still have to see that thing hanging down between my legs and…"
"I understand," Erika said, soothingly. "We won't force you. Just one step at a time, okay?"
Ashley nodded weakly, even as her adoptive sister kissed her on the forehead.
"I'll be right back," Erika said. "I'm going to go find a place to change, okay?"
Ashley sighed, wishing she could be as beautiful as her sister was and had the confidence to even try and attempt to be as beautiful. She balled up a fist and punched a tree in frustration, wincing in pain and took a deep breath and let it out. Erika was right, this wasn't something she'd be able to do with a snap of her fingers.
This would require patience, something she was unfortunately terrible with.
"Why can't I just be a girl now?" she asked, hoping she wasn't sounding like she was whining. "I mean, Dittos can transform instantly, so why can't I?"
She knew the answer, Dittos were biologically, genetically unstable and their unique DNA was what allowed them to transform safely. Humans, from what she'd been told by her doctor, if too many D-Cells were introduced into their body too rapidly, then they'd just break down completely and become little more than liquid on the floor.
She shuddered at the thought, as she sat down on a rock and tried not to look at herself in the water's reflection.
"Right… patience, haha," Ashley chuckled to herself. "Come on Ashley, if you're going to be the world's greatest Pokemon Master, you can tough it out right? And… Diantha… She's like me, and she's utterly drop dead gorgeous. Literal model, literal movie star, and if someone like her can be considered the most beautiful woman in the world, five years running…"
She smiled weakly, and wiped away a tear from her eye. She didn't care about modeling, or anything like that, but Diantha was undeniably drop-dead gorgeous and… Great, she was feeling weird again. Not envious, at least not just that but something else as well. Just weird, a good kind of weird but she'd felt like this whenever she looked at Misty.
"...okay, it's gotta be just jealousy, it's gotta be just that right?" she wondered aloud. "Wanting to be them, yeah that's it!"
"I gotta ask," Brock said in passing. "Given how over half of your Pokemon are flying types, I'm assuming you're trying to be a Flying-Type Specialist?"
"Huh?" Ashley said. "No, it's just… I've been capturing whatever crosses my path, that's all."
"Huh, I could have sworn that…" Brock mused. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with specializing in a certain type, and in a way that's easier as you get to know their strengths and weaknesses a lot quicker by experience. Just remember to cover for your weaknesses, that's all!"
"I'm going to be the World's Greatest Pokemon Master, so I have to train all types of Pokemon! I can't just specialize in one type!"
"So that just means you have to catch a lot of Pokemon, of different types. You can't just chuck your Pokeballs at the first Pokemon you see on every route, unless you want to challenge yourself and there's nothing wrong with that! But!" Brock said. "If you want to really, and I mean really experience Kanto, you should really explore. Who knows what you'll find!"
"And you're the guy with the map, saying I should basically let myself get lost and get lucky?"
"Something like that, I know it sounds counter-intuitive but it's like playing an RPG okay," Brock said. "Exploration rewards the curious. It's a big region, and-"
"You sound like Professor Oak."
"I listen to his talk shows, his end of show haiku are really good," Brock said, while feeding his Grotle an apple he'd picked off a nearby tree. "Here you go, Bolin… Besides, there's nothing wrong with sounding like one of the most famous Pokemon professors in the world, right? I'm actually kinda flattered you think I sound like him!"
"...well, at least you're not comparing my catches with how many Gary's caught…" Ashley muttered. "The last time I talked to Professor Oak, before we left Cerulean City, he said Gary's caught 40 Pokemon already."
Brock sighed. "Okay, yeah, he shouldn't have done that, especially with that nasty rivalry you two have. I know he's trying to encourage you, but there's better ways to go about it. Constantly comparing you two, yeah that's just going to leave you with some serious self-worth issues on your end, I can already see signs of it from you and it'll only feed Gary's ego. Why Professor Oak didn't think to get that under control, I don't know. I guess nobody's perfect, I suppose…"
"...Yeah… I suppose…" Ashley mumbled. "I just… I just wish…"
"You were more like Gary?" Brock said, bringing her in for a side hug. "Don't, just don't okay? Don't start on that, you don't need to be exactly like him. Everyone has their own style of Pokemon training, and well Gary's got his style and you've got yours. Besides, from what I've seen you go for quality over quantity. 40 Pokemon, yeah there's no way Gary can reasonably train that many realistically. I've only got about 20, and over half of those belong to the gym anyways, and were trained by my father."
Ashley nodded in understanding. "Thanks Brocko…"
"What I'm here for, okay?" the older teen smiled. "So I have to ask, what is a Pokemon Master anyways?"
"Well, it's like, it's… uh…" Ashley struggled to explain, trying to find words and before she could the two were interrupted by a shout from Erika.
"Guys, over here!" Erika shouted. "Come quick, you need to see this!"
The two rushed over, to see Erika in a yellow bikini standing over an unconscious Houndour on the riverside with a Pokemon's egg laying next to it. Ashley tried not to feel too jealous of how good, how womanly she looked, before her eyes widened at the egg. Or rather the size of it.
"That's a big egg," Ashley said, looking like she'd been hit with an Astonish. "...I wonder what sort of Torchic laid that one."
Erika smacked her over the head with the Paper Fan of Doom for that one.
"Right, sorry," Ashley said, leaning down to look the Houndour in the eye, the dog growling at her. "Hey, shhh… it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, just… who did this to you bud?"
Ashley slowly reaches for the Houndour who backs away, instinctively putting himself between Ashley and the egg. He was still whimpering. "It's ok it's ok I won't hurt you or the egg I promise. My name is Ashley, what's yours?"
"Stay back, he might bite," Brock said, ready to pull her back if need be. "That look in his eyes… see it?"
"Yeah, I do."
"See the way he's darting between all three of us, looking at all of us? He's trying to work out if we're a threat," Brock warned. "He may try to bolt for an escape route if he sees one, I don't like this at all. That look in his eyes… he's terrified, and the way he's looking at us, something happened to him. Something bad, and humans were involved."
"So, what do you recommend?"
"Keep your distance, show him you're not a threat," Brock said. "And don't get anywhere near the egg, Dark-types have hotter tempers than most and this one's a part fire-type. He might suddenly bite you if he feels threatened, that egg… I don't think it's his, not in that way but I don't think he cares anyways. That's his egg, in his mind."
Ashley nodded.
"Just stay calm, respect his space," Brock said. "Whatever you do, don't raise your voice. Pokemon are a lot more intelligent than people give them credit for, he'll be able to pick up on your emotions. Canine Pokemon are especially good at this, so just be careful. I can't stress that enough."
Ashley swallowed, and nodded.
"I remember when Dark-types used to be called Evil-types by people who didn't understand them at all," Brock said as Erika frowned at the reminder, owning one herself. "They're not violent, unless you trigger them in some way."
Ashley, slowly but surely reaches into her pack and takes out some dried Tauros jerky she had gotten for any carnivore Pokemon she caught. She smiled, setting the jerky down. "Here you go, okay bud? Hungry?"
Hesitantly the Houndour sniffed the jerky then took it carefully, eyeing Ashley as he ate it. Little by little, the Houndour seemed to get a little more trusting before finally standing up on his two hind legs and barking madly.
"HOUN HOUN HOUND!" he whined pointing with a paw towards the forest he came downstream from: "Dour dour dour!"
It then dropped down dramatically acting like it just got hit by something and then stood back up again barking out: "DOUR DOUR DOUR!"
Hope, with a freaked look, hopped down next to the Houndour clearly understanding the dog's words. Turning to her trainer, she frantically said: "PIKA PIKA PI PI!"
Ashley didn't entirely understand her Pikachu, at least not in words but she understood she needed help. Houndour needed help. I don't know what's going on but don't worry, okay? We're going to help, so just don't worry okay?"
Brock just watched, nodding his head at Ashley's natural talent for empathizing with Pokemon. Years ago, someone with her natural understanding of Pokemon might have been run out of a village, or thought to be a Pokemon in disguise. But someone like her today was invaluable to a Breeder like him. "She is closer to being a Pokemon Master than she realizes but that's something she has to figure out on her own."
Erika just smiled at her sister, having similar thoughts along the same line as Brock's.
"Ok, I'm gonna carefully take the egg now ok?" Ashley said, looking the Houndour in the eyes. "We can't leave it here and you clearly want to show us something."
However hesitantly the Houndour nodded, and stood aside letting Ashley gently pick up the egg. Now that she had a good look at it, once again Ashley was struck by how unnaturally large it was. The egg was green, with white stripes and a pink top.
"Wow, you're a big boi aren't you?" Ashley quipped.
"I don't recognize it," Erika said, having changed back into her kimono. "It's not a Pokemon from Kanto, I'd guess. Brock, you're into breeding, what's your take on it? You recognize it?"
Brock sucked in a breath, and shook his head. "I wish I did. Sadly, I'm mostly self taught. Even if I wasn't, most pokemon have dozens, sometimes even hundreds of egg styles, so looking it up would be… a challenge."
"I'm not even sure I have room in my backpack for this… Is there even an incubator large enough for this egg?"
"There should be, Wailmer eggs can get pretty large though I haven't seen a green Wailmer before so that one's out," Brock said, even as Ashley rooted around in her backpack trying to find space for the big egg.
The Houndour looked in the backpack then nodded his head, clearly giving his approval. Ashley carefully set the egg inside her backpack, and turned back to the puppy.
"Ok, now please show us what's going on," Erika said sweetly and the Houndour walked forward still on his hind legs. He wasn't doing it as gracefully as a certain Meowth, it was more like hopping like a kangaroo honestly.
"...so what surprise is in store for us this time…?" Erika thought to herself, having a pit forming in her stomach already.
—-
"Oh, dere's a nice catch…" Nyasu said, peering through binoculars. "Ever seen an egg that big before, because that'd be one heck of an omelet!"
"Imagine the money the boss would pay us if we brought that one in!" James said. "We'd be rich, rich, rich!"
"We'd be swimming in diamonds…" Jessie said, allowing herself to fantasize, seeing herself attended to by hot women while she sat naked in a bath of gemstones.
"Now hold on dere for a second, you really think the boss would care for an egg? He wants the Pokemon inside, you dolts," Nyasu said. "Besides, don't youse two think it's a little low to steal a defenseless egg?"
"Yeah…" Jessie said. "A baby's one thing, but an egg… Not even we're that low, and we're the bottom rung!"
"So wait till it hatches," James said. "But if it hatches… which one of us is going to take care of a baby?"
"I went to nursing school so I could probably raise it, become it's momma. Oh, it'll be sooooo cute! I've always wanted to be a mom! Let me, I know what I'm doing!" Jessie said, and both James and Nyasu stared at her. "It's true! I almost became a nurse!"
"You mean like a Doctor, like Joy?" James said, stunned. "I'm just imagining you in one of the Pokemon Centers, attending to trainers' Pokemon and… yeah, no I can't see it."
"...I can't see her as a mom either, not with dat nasty temper of hers…"
"WHAT WAS THAT?" Jessie snapped, trying to strangle Nyasu.
"Okay! Can we not try and kill each other?" James said. "It's not like we have any money to pay anyone to bury us! All the same Jess, are you sure you can raise that baby Pokemon?"
"Oh ye of little faith," Jessie said. "I got into medical school and everything! I even had a Chansey partner, me and this other woman from the Joy clan. Her name was… I think it was something starting with an M, I don't remember it or what happened to her actually."
"...so what happened, did ya flunk?"
"Well, no, not really, but I didn't grow up with a lot of money and I couldn't pay the tuition fees so I started stealing, little things at first. Enough to get by and pay for things like textbooks and other fees. But…" Jessie sighed. "I got caught. The look on Joy's face when I was expelled… I'll never forget it."
"Oh Jess…" Nyasu said, rubbing her back. "Youse deserve better than Team Rocket, youse know that right?"
"No point now, and besides if I hadn't fallen in with Team Rocket, I wouldn't have met you two!"
"Awww Jessie, I knew you cared!" James said, hugging her.
"GET OFF ME! JAMES! NOT YOU TOO MEOWTH! Your claws are digging into my back!"
—-
Elsewhere, a man was walking through the woods. Dressed in a long black coat, he wore sunglasses to hide his eyes. Rather pale skinned, he had slicked back jet-black hair, and by his side was a rather fat Purrloin.
"Where are those useless hounds? If I lose that egg it will be the death of me!" At this, the Purrloin let a snickering laugh at his trainer. "QUIET you fool!"
He smacked the Purrloin, causing it to yowl and hiss at him.
His three Mightyena returned, one giggling madly as usual with his Koffing close behind. Their trainer growled out: "So did you worthless fools find it or not?"
Two of them stepped back in fear but the pack leader hesitantly stepped forward, nervously shaking her head.
"USELESS!" At this, he kicked the Pokemon hard, sending it flying into a tree with a yelp. "Do you have ANY idea how dangerous the people I'm working for are? If I fail this mission I'm DEAD and if I'm dead SO ARE ALL OF YOU!"
He yanks a pokeball out of his pocket and tosses it and out pops a fearful looking Corvisquire.
"You'd better find me that egg and that blasted mutt or I will personally and slowly pluck out your feathers, give them to a Tinkatink then fry you and then EAT YOU!" he snarls out, gritting his teeth. The Corvisquire gulped and steps back nodding before taking flight, fearing for its life.
Next to him, his Purrloin laughed, enjoying when the sadism was not directed at him.
"Come Meowsly let's return to camp for now… Maybe I'll be surprised and that bird will actually do his job," the sadistic man beckoned as he walked off. "I spent a lot of good money getting ahold of one, he'd better be worth it."
The Purrloin followed, the three Mightyena looking to their pack leader and licking her wounds. They shared a glance, and snarled at their 'trainer', already thinking of the best time to ditch him…
—-
Following the Houndour through the woods, Ashley suddenly heard a loud shriek and saw a dark-feathered corvid Pokemon flying overhead.
"What is THAT?" Ashley said, as she took out Dexter.
"Corvisquire, the Raven Pokémon. Smart enough to use tools in battle, these Pokémon have been seen picking up rocks and flinging them or using ropes to wrap up enemies. It's said that the reason behind Corvisquire's high level of intelligence is the large size of its brain relative to those of other bird Pokémon."
"Huh wonder what it's doing here…" Brock mused.
"...is it…?" Ashley narrowed her eyes, seeing the bird flying right towards them.
"It is! Look out, it's dive-bombing us!" Brock shouted, in warning.
Houndour let out a whimper, flashing back to when he was in in his egg. He remembered this bird, remembering the screams of what must have been his mother and the sound of a gun. He remembered his mother's dying whimper, and remembered hatching in front of a man's greed-filled eyes.
"HOOOOOOOUN!" Houndour started to panic, eyes bugging out. He was pointing at the bird and flapping his arms, barking out: "DOUR DOUR DOUR DOUR!"
He then puffed out his chest and held his arms at a 90 degree angle pointed down, stomping around menacingly. Dropping to all 4 like a normal Houndour, he barked and then gasped and fell backwards playing dead, tongue lolled out.
The 3 humans stared in confusion. But Hope? Hope was sparking mad, glaring at the bird. "Pika pi!"
Ashley nodded.
"Alright then… I don't know what's going on here, but Houndour… you're terrified of that bird aren't you? Don't worry, I'll handle it, so don't be scared okay?" she said, soothingly before crying out: "HOPE USE THUNDERBOLT!"
"PIKACHUUUUUU!" Hope cried out, trying to use Thunderbolt. However, as she hadn't practiced with it, all she managed was a lower powered Thunder Shock attack.
"Guess we need to work at that a little bit more," Ashley said "OH well, fine! Thunder Shock, Hope! Hit it with all you've got!"
The raven's entire body glowed, as it flew into a Take Down at Hope.
"Dodge, and into Iron Tail!" Hope leapt to the side then slammed her glowing tail into the bird from behind. Her own momentum added to the bird, sent it flying hard into a tree.
"Did we get it?" Ashley asked, taking a nervous step back.
But the bird staggers to its feet, refusing to lose. The terrifying words of its trainer repeated in its head, as it let out a crow of: "CORRRRRRRVVVIIII!"
Hope paused briefly and looked back at her trainer. ashley looked at Hope, in concern asking: "What is it, girl?"
"Ashley!" Brock shouted, the Corvisquire slashing through the air, blades of wind flying into Hope who let out a cry of pain. Taking its chance to fly off, the Corvisquire took to the air.
"Oh no you don't! Hope, Thunder Shock!" Hope, reluctantly, let another bolt fly and sent the bird crashing into the dirt. "Okay, that has to have done it…"
However, the bird was rising up for another go, in obvious pain but refusing to give up.
"Wow, he's a fighter…" Ashley said, stunned.
"This isn't a normal Pokemon battle," Brock said, sharing a look with Erika, seeing the terror in the bird's eyes. "It's fighting for its life."
"Huh?"
"Ashley, let me," Brock said, holding a hand up reminding Ashley of that dinosaur movie hero she'd seen once and slowly approaching the bird. "It's okay, we're not going to hurt you, alright? Here, I'm a friend. I've got some nice Pokebeans, is that what you want?"
"COR COR COR!" it says in anger, flapping its wings, even as Brock slowly approached the bird.
"It's alright, here… is this what you want?" Brock asked, gently setting the beans in front of the bird.
The raven rushed forwards, using a wing to smack Brock aside and drawing blood.
"PIKA PI!" Hope shouts at the bird before zapping it, her previous sympathy out the window now that it's harmed Brock. "PIKA PI PI PI!"
"No wait, don't!" Brock shouted, in warning.
The Corvisquire falls once more badly hurt. "Corv… Corv…" it pants slowly staggering to its feet and glowing white, growing larger.
"It's… Is it evolving? Even after all that?" Erika said, stunned. "Brock, be careful!"
"It's alright, just leave this to me. Leave it to Brocko. Bolin, use Sweet Scent to calm it down!" Brock said, letting the grass turtle out.
From the grass-type's leaves, a beautiful aroma wafted towards the bird and it immediately started to calm down.
"That's it…" Brock said, feeding the bird some beans, as it leaned into his touch. Erika and Ashley just watched in awe. "That's it… Someone hurt you, didn't they? The same person who hurt Houndour, right?"
"Corv…" the large raven said, letting out a little cry of fear.
"Can you lead us to him?" Brock asked, gently. "Whoever did this to you, we can't let him get away with this. Don't worry, nobody's ever going to hurt you again, I promise."
"Corv…" the bird said, seeing nothing but love in Brock's eyes, and gesturing deeper into the forest with a wing.
"That way?" Brock asked.
"That… that way…" the bird mimicked, and fell forwards accidentally letting himself be sucked into a Heal Ball on Brock's belt.
Brock's eyes hardened.
"Okay then… That's what we'll do."
—-
In the bushes, Nyasu's eyes widened in horror.
"Cooking Twerp's pretty good, isn't he?" James asked, before he saw the look on Nyasu's face.
"By Arceus… What dat bird said, what he's been through, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemies… Its trainer… no I can't call him dat, he's a monster. I can't believe I'm saying this, but those twerps… they're gonna need our help!"
"You're surely joking!" Jessie said, as Nyasu glared at her.
"I swear on my lucky charm, no I'm not. That monster, he needs to be stopped. Now we've done bad things, but that man… he's like bad bad understand? And if you ask me, he should prepare for trouble…"
Ashley's eyes widened as she saw the camp site, and saw the eggs inside boxes.
"...he… those are…" she said, fighting back tears. "...he's got a whole collection…"
"Erika," Brock said, eyes narrowed. "Get to the nearest Pokemon center, or anywhere with a phone. Contact Officer Jenny, she needs to know about this."
"You really think you can handle this guy all by yourselves?" Erika started before Brock held up a hand.
"It's not just us," Brock said, pulling out his pokeballs with Ashley following suit. "We've got our Pokemon, right?"
"Okay, just… just be careful, alright?" Erika nodded, before dashing off.
Brock and Ashley snuck into the camp, hiding amongst the undergrowth as the sun set casting an orange glow amongst the trees.
"So where's the poacher?" Ashley wondered. "Did he step out to pee or something?"
"I don't think we should look a gift Ponyta in the mouth," Brock said, as they snuck towards the crates. "Let's just grab these eggs, and be gon… oh no. That bastard, I don't believe it!"
"What is it?" Ashley said as she followed Brock's gaze, seeing a blue Pokemon with a round head, and a tiny body inside a very small tank. A long ribbon-like antenna gently swayed behind the Pokemon, eyes filled with tears. It seemed to be begging, pleading for help that it thought would never come.
"He's got a Phione! That heartless…" Brock swore under his breath, doubtlessly saying words Erika would use her fan on him if she'd heard. "That tank's way too small for it, Misty would lose it if she saw this!"
Ashley pulled out Dexter, and scanned the sea angel Pokemon.
"Phione, the Sea Drifter Pokémon. It drifts in warm seas. It always returns to where it was born, no matter how far it may have drifted."
"Haha, like it?" said a voice from behind them and both trainers turned to see the Poacher. "Name's Mark. Mark Malavalance, not that I'll let you remember my name. Found that one in the seas off Sunyshore City, that one'll fetch me a pretty penny when I sell her off."
"Sell her off…" Ashley growled, as Houndour trembled behind her, playing dead and holding up a rose. "You're not doing anything of the kind, not if we have anything to say about it!"
"Count me in too," Brock said, reaching for Quake's Pokeball. "Tag-team!"
The massive rock snake loomed over the Poacher, roaring in rage as Ashley threw out one of her own Pokeballs.
"PIIIIIIIIDDDDDDDDDDDDGGGGGEEEEE!" Gale called, a look of fury on her face. Brock and Ashley's other Pokemon were quick to follow after them.
"Common, worthless…" Mark said. "Nothing really noteworthy I see, even if that Onix was trained by a gym leader. Any half-decent Pokemon hunter can catch one. Come back to me when you've got something actually interesting."
"Pokemon aren't just something you can assign values to, and put prices on," Brock said, truly disgusted. "You're not a trainer, you don't even care about your own Pokemon. I saw what you did to your Corviknight, it was terrified of going back to you!"
"Oh so that worthless bird actually evolved?" Mark said. "Mhmmm, give him to me along with that Houndour and the egg back to me and maybe I'll forget I ever saw you."
"Oh we've got something for you alright, it's called an asskicking!" Ashley snapped.
"Is that so?" the poacher said, pulling out two dark purple Pokeballs, enlarging them. "Stole these from Team Rocket, one of their little projects. I don't think they'd miss a few, they've got plenty as is. I only took what I needed. They're called Master Balls, any Pokemon they're thrown at will be caught, no struggle for them. And I've made sure my captures obey me, without question. They're slaves to my command."
"Like I said, you're not a trainer," Brock said, with a growl. "You don't care a single bit about actually raising your Pokemon. They're terrified of you! That's the only reason they obey you! Love, care, that's how you bring out their true strength!"
"Oh, so you want to bet on that?" Mark said with a laugh. "How about you bet your life! Salazzle, Chi-Yu, let's go!"
One of the Pokemon was a curvy dark-scaled pokemon, resembling a salamander or a lizard. The other was a fish made completely of flames, with curved jade beads as eyes.
Salazzle's eyes were completely soulless and Ashley's eyes widened as her male Pokemon seemed to be instinctively drawn towards her. Even Brock lumbered forwards like a zombie towards the poisonous Pokemon.
"Ha, little fact for you. Salazzle often have an entire harem of males following after them, their lovesick slaves! People, pokemon, it doesn't matter, her pheromones work equally well on both!" Mark said. "Chi-Yu, now finish them all off with your Flame Charge!"
The fish rocketed forwards, leaving a burning inferno in his wake as a ring of fire surrounded the campsite. Gale was thrown to the side, almost completely unconscious and Hope wasn't looking much better.
"So… I'll be taking my things back now…" Mark said, looming over Ashley before bright lights lit up the campsite.
Spotlights shown on two distinctive figures, and a feline Pokemon as music played from speakers somewhere nearby.
"Prepare for trouble!"
"And make it double!"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"And James!"
"Team Rocket blasting off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender yourself or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, that's right!" Nyasu said devoid of his usual enthusiasm, claws bared and a furious look on his face.
"Oh great… as if things weren't bad enough," Ashley sighed.
"Don't worry Twerpette, we're not here for you, not this time," Jessie said. "That guy right here though… He makes us real thieves look terrible! Thievery is an art, and he makes us look like a joke! There's a certain honor in the profession, and he's got none of it!"
"Yeah, what Jess said," Nyasu said. "No costumes, no tricks, just the real Team Rocket! We may be the bad guys, but we're not bad bad! We put the 'good' in 'bad', and youse should understand that! Dat man, dat monster, he sure doesn't! Stealin' defenseless eggs is an all time low, even for us!"
"Now, watch some real masters of their craft show him how it's done!" James said, smashing open a cage holding some young Pidgey and releasing them as they swarmed Mark. The remains of the Pidgey's eggshells were scattered inside the cage. "So what was that you were saying about common Pokemon again?"
Ashley and Brock stared stunned, the TRio was… helping them?
The poacher was shouting: "Nab them, jab them, tab them, grab them, just stop those Pidgey now!"
One Pidgey grabbed Salazzle's Master Ball and Nyasu grabbed the second.
"Youse should take better care of your things!" Nyasu said.
"Kisame! Sand Attack!" James ordered, with the Wimpod throwing sand into Mark's face, blinding him as he tried to grab the balls back.
"And what's yours is mine and what's mine is no longer yours!" Nyasu said, using his Fury Swipes to destroy the balls, slicing them in two.
"STOP THEM!" Mark snarled at his Pokemon as the Salazzle and Chi-Yu fled into the wild, never to be seen again. His Koffing just shrouded himself in smoke and the three Mightyena turned up their noses and walked off. "TRAITORS!"
"How can someone betray you, if they were never on your side?" Nyasu wagged his finger. "They've all been looking for an excuse to escape from your abuse! Oh look, speaking of things escaping…"
Mark roared in rage to see Ashley and Brock grabbing as many eggs as they could along with Phione's tank.
"Our work here is done," Nyasu said as they dashed off. "Team Rocket's blastin' off again!"
Mark ground his teeth seeing everything fall apart and Meowlsy is sitting next to him snickering: "Purr purr purr!"
Mark then smacked the cat hard across the head. "QUIET YOU FOOL!"
Ashley looked like she might be sick. "H-How could you? How could you strike your own Pokemon like that? I knew you were twisted but that's just-"
Mark glared at the girl. "I don't tell you how to treat your worthless electric rodent! Don't tell me how to treat my sidekick!" he snapped back at her.
Ashley spat at her. "I'll tell you how to raise Pokemon as I please!"
"Now how about you hand over that egg. It's very important that I give it to my client. You can keep the stupid Houndour for all I care. It's worthless to me now that it's hatched," Mark said, his slicked back hair coming undone. A long strand was hanging in his face, the man was clearly getting desperate.
Ashley just tossed him a disgusted look. "Houndour is a he, not an it. It's over, you're clearly out of pokemon so just give up, I'm not handing over the egg or anything else to you! The police will be here soon so just give up!"
Mark looked around and grit his teeth then grinned sadistically. "Drat and double drat! You're right. I admit I don't have any more Pokemon besides Meowsly and this fat thing is worthless in battle but I still have one trick up my sleeve!"
He reached into his coat, pulling out a revolver and aimed it at Ashley. Brock's eyes widened in horror.
"Now hand over the egg OR ELSE!" he said with a snarl, his hand shaking. "Yeah that's right, you trainers rely too much on your Pokemon when sometimes good old fashioned guns work much better!"
Meowsly laughed at this too, wondering if the kid would get shot.
"NOW HAND THE EGG OVER!" Mark thundered.
"I REFUSE I DON'T CARE IF YOU SHOOT ME!" Ashley said, with both Hope and Brock letting out gasps of horror.
"Ashley!"/"Pikapi!"
"So that's how it is huh? Then DIE!" he shouted in anger and pulled the trigger. But Houndour, in a panic leaped towards Mark and tackled him to the ground, with Mark trying to aim the gun at him instead.
Before he could line up his shot, Hope smacked the gun out of his hand with her Iron Tail. Mark groaned in pain as the electric rodent furiously glared at the vile excuse for a human being.
"PIKAPI!" she said to her trainer, standing between her and Mark.
Mark, sweating, said: "Now now, shouldn't you be worried about your friend?"
Hope glanced back towards Ashley and her Houndour but that was all Mark needed to kick her away.
"MEOWSLY! We're getting out of here!"
With that, he bolted off into the woods with his fat cat following.
—-
Mark and Meowsly ran through the woods, Mark ranting all the while and shouting: "This is all your fault if you weren't so pathetic and worthless we wouldn't even be in this mess!"
Meowsly growled at Mark but decided now wasn't really the time to bicker. Suddenly a large blast ripped through the ground before them making them fall over each other.
A woman, dressed in purple military fatigues stepped out wearing a strange device on on her right arm. She had short green hair, a military buzzcut and wore a pair of sunglasses.
"The Mistress is very very displeased," the woman said in a mischievous voice, followed by a red flash of an unknown Pokemon being recalled.
Mark froze on the spot, stammering out: "M-Melody!"
The woman, with an eerily serene sort of smile said: "Please do not say my name. I don't like it when trash uses my name so would you kindly not say it again."
Mark just nodded. "R-Right, l-look I know things are bad right now, I know how they look b-but I can recover the eggI swear!"
"Oh no it's much too late for that. I saw the whole thing. You lost the alpha and you even lost the Kanto eggs."
"Y-yes th-that is true," he sweated, Meowsly was also panicking.
The woman aimed her device at the Purrloin, firing a beam that turned Meowsly into solid bronze. "That Purrloin of yours is rather large, perhaps a unique breed even. I'm sure we can find a buyer for it."
Mark stared in shock, before groveling: "Yes yes you can have Meowsly see so we're good right?"
The woman sighed, rubbing her forehead. Keeping her sweet tone, she slowly raised her voice saying: "Good you think we are good? Oh no, we're far from that, after all you lost an extremely rare Alpha's egg."
She slammed her heel down onto the pathetic excuse for a man's arm, as he howled in pain.
"You wanted to join our organization with your tactics? The ones which do nothing but damage the merchandise? My Mistress was already questioning your value to her, but this I think will make up her mind. You are worthless, you aren't even worth any of the money we paid you. We gave you one chance, and you failed completely."
Mark crawled forward grabbing onto Melody's leg, before she kicked him away. "Please please give me another chance! Wait, I know we can stop those brats together!"
He clung onto her, accidentally ripping the device off her arm and it clattered to the ground.
Her sweet demeanor faded, and her true face was revealed.
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME!" she growled, tossing him aside and snarled out: "ONLY MY LADY IS FIT TO TOUCH ME!"
She saw her device had a crack on the screen.
"Oh, look at that, you broke my Bronzizer," her sweet tone returned and she clicked her tongue, shaking her head. "I was going to make this painless but you've just cost me quite a lot of money replacing that. So, instead…"
She pulled out a revolver, aiming it at the crying man.
"Please no!" Mark begged, she then shot him in his left shoulder then his right as he howled in pain.
"Yes please sing for me, you worthless man thing," she said sweetly then shot each of his knees enjoying the screams as she shot him in the gut. Blood pooled out onto the ground. "Shame these things only have 6 shots oh well. It was fun while it lasted."
She then shot Mark in the head, the loud bang echoing through the forest and birds flying. Taking out a Rotom phone, she dialed her boss.
"Milady, I have unfortunate news. That idiot Mark failed us, as you suspected he would. No, I can't recover the merchandise at this time the police are coming," Melody said before nodding. "I see the client had canceled the job anyways oh well. I may have discovered something else of value though. No, I can't make any report until I'm sure so I'm going to observe things here for a bit."
Melody nodded in understanding.
"Yes, I'll make sure to avoid Team Rocket. We can't have a crime war after all, Giovanni doesn't scare me like you do but I'm going to avoid stepping on their toes. Yes ma'am, I understand. I'll contact you when I have more information Mistress. I love you."
Melody grinned to herself, glowing with a sickly purple aura.
"That young girl has the power too. I could sense it and hers is much stronger than mine. Impressive, the old stories say those with such a strong aura are said to be drawn to Legendaries. I'll have to keep an eye on her…"
"Ashley?" Erika said, looking up, eyes widening even as police vans pulled up with the local Office Jenny commanding her Growlithes to fan out and search the forest.
She saw her sister, shaking and raced to pull her into a hug. And that's when she heard it, the sound of Ashley crying and Erika instinctively wrapped her arms around her.
"What did you see?" she asked, and Ashley only sobbed harder. In her soul, Erika knew something had been broken inside her sister and her innocence was lost forever.
Whoever that poacher was, damn him.
Damn him.
Notes: Okay, so... yeah, that happened. Methinks Erika and Brock need to have a talk about Ashley and her stupidly self-sacrificing tendencies. ...still, at least she and Brock got some new Pokemon out of the deal, right... So all's good... right? Right? Next time, the Lass from PokeTech! The beauty, the talents,her humble attitude. They call her a star, but she's just Giselle! Ashley's Pokemon:
Hope (Pikachu) Female
Clint (Spearow) Male
Amethyst (Vivillon) Female
Gale (Pidgeotto) Female
Mustard (Beedrill) Male
Houndour (Male)
Unknown Alpha Pokemon Egg Erika's Pokemon:
Meadow (Leafeon) Female
Rafflesia (Gloom) Female
Ichigo (Shiny Lokix) Male
Venom (Beedrill) Male Brock's Pokemon:
Quake (Onix) Male
Bolin (Shiny Grotle) Male
Geodude (N/A)
Razzberry (Zubat) Male
The Lady Raevyn Branwen (Corviknight) Female