Prompt 10: New Pokémon

"Boss Emmet. Can you pleeease stop signing papers for just one minute and listen to me?"

"If it's about the announcement regarding the recent update to the banned legendary pokémon list outside the station, I do not want to hear it, Cameron." Emmet did his best to ignore the depot agent as Cameron stepped forward and stood ominously over Emmet's desk. He had been pestering Emmet the entire day, taking advantage of Ingo's absence due to a physical therapy appointment to pester and bother the more persuasion-susceptible twin. So far, he hadn't been winning.

"It's not about the announcement. It's about you."

"A complaint?"

"No."

Emmet's eyes narrowed. "The press?"

"No again." With an exaggerated sigh, Cameron cleared Emmet's paperwork to the left with one arm and instead plopped down his work-sanctioned tablet in the middle of the desk, the global trade system's main page illuminated on the screen. "Discussion time! Boss. You need to switch up your team in the Battle Subway," Cameron emphasized. "People are starting to notice patterns. They're designing ways to throttle your team."

"My team and I are a well-oiled engine," Emmet casually retorted, making no move to retrieve his papers. He instead reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a spare battery, tossing it into a nearby Joltik web where a cluster of the electric type pokémon descended upon it in a mad fury. "No amount of repetition or type matchup strategies can derail us so easily. My team and I have been conducting our challengers and stopping them in their tracks for years."

"You could use some new faces, though. Throw your challengers for a loop." Cameron pulled up a chair and then shot Emmet a devious look, leaning back in his seat to a perilous degree. "I've got a few pokémon in mind that could really be an asset to the subway."

Emmet frowned. He had known the slightly younger man for years at that point and while all of his depot agents knew Emmet's boundaries- his sometimes-unreasonable boundaries- Cameron was the only one who pushed at them the slightest bit. In a sense, the other depot agents respected both Ingo and Emmet, but Emmet knew that a few of his employees found him to be creepy due to his way of monotonous, often lifeless way of speaking and his unrestrainable love of pokémon battles that tended to manifest in a way that almost resembled obsession. It wasn't something he could help.

Cameron had feared both brothers when he had originally signed on to become a depot agent. But after gaining confidence in working on the lines and through working alongside each Subway Boss separately, Cameron had gotten quite used to treating his bosses as his friends. And in particular, Cameron loved to mess around with Emmet, much to the latter's chagrin.

"Cameron."

"C'mon, boss! I spent a lot of time thinking about this! At least look at the list I made!"

Emmet snorted, pushing the tablet back to his employee. He had attempted to wait out Cameron's episodes of brief hyper fixations in the past to no avail. Today would be such a day. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Emmet sighed, crossing one leg over the other as he too leaned back in his chair. "Fine. Please introduce me to your potential candidates.

Cameron beamed. "Yes! Okay. Let me just pull up the list." He swiped at the screen, his eyes shooting up to Emmet's own bored stare. "I spent so much time thinking about the possible combinations and which pokémon you would probably put on your team. Did some studying. Looked at a handful of vs recorder footage of trainers getting destroyed on both the double and super double lines. Figured out what stumped them the most." Cameron finally settled, clearing his throat. "Okay. First up: Focus Sash Smeargle with a priority on setting up entry hazards."

"Clever. Verrry clever." Emmet grinned, recognizing the strategy almost immediately. Smeargle was a popular pokémon in the competitive battling scene. He wouldn't raise any eyebrows bringing a Smeargle to the Battle Subway. "Setting up is my specialty. And Smeargle is a normal type. Access to almost every move type via its typing." Emmet considered it for a moment. "Which ability?"

"Own Tempo. No risk of confusion. Oh! And here's another suggestion: how about Tinkaton? From the Paldea region? Fairy and steel type." Cameron then grinned, his eyes crinklling to mere slits. His voice began to tremble with laughter. "I hear they're really hard-hitting."

"…Get out of my office."

"No, no, no! Hear me out, boss! Tinkaton. Fairy and steel type. Mostly a physical attacker. Equip that baby with a Rocky Helmet and you've got a little bruiser on your team." In an offhand comment, Cameron murmured, "Kinda fits the way you scare the pants off most of your challengers, boss. Tinkaton's very infamous in the Paldea region due to how… devious they are."

Emmet squinted. "Intimidation is a valid tactic, Cameron." He then smiled, still finding it amusing how the public had framed him to be the menacing twin all the time. He quite enjoyed it. "Hmm. Tinkaton use their hammers to knock Corviknights out of the sky with rocks according to the Paldea dex." Emmet tapped one finger thoughtfully against his chin. "I will consider that combination. Give me the next one."

"Zoroark."

"Zoroark?"

"Zoroark. Absolutely Zoroark." Cameron's eyes gleamed as he began to ramble. "Illusion ability obviously. Put that sucker right in the startup position, okay? Now give it some choice specs or a life orb. Okay. Listen to me. Listen. To. Me. Nasty Plot boosted Night Daze with U-Turn for a clean switch out."

"That sounds gimmicky," Emmet noted. "I do not like gimmicks." Emmet then scowled. "Gimmicks allow for cheap tricks, and I will not encourage the use of gimmicks in the Battle Subway. They are not strategies! They are imitations of strategies, and they do not make battling fun!"

"Mind games, boss! Mind games! That's the whole point! You get to mess with the challengers! In a professional setting! Sending out a Zoroark could make a fun first impression after removing Smeargle from the forefront after it sets up hazards for the opponent."

"It's viable," Emmet begrudgingly conceded. The Zoroark lineage almost always had illusion as their main ability. Emmet had seen it in use numerous times from trainers looking to get the drop on him. He had also been tricked once into buying two disguised Zoruas sandwiches from the Icirrus Station's vending machines."I will think about it." Emmet looked kindly upon Cameron, smiling. "They are good suggestions. Your strategizing is getting better. Yup! Good job."

"Thanks!" Cameron's tablet began to shake, and he hurriedly picked it up. "I'll find some other cool pokémon for you, boss. But for real. Switch up your team. It'll bring some fresh air to the subway and to the challengers and besides- Ingo already switched up his team!"

Emmet's eyes twitched. "Ingo assembled a brand-new team in Hisui. He did not specifically construct his team to battle in the subway, nor are his Hisui pokémon used to casual battling. They are exceptions."

His brother had indeed brought back strange new pokémon with him after disappearing to Hisui for an entire year. Ingo's Hisui team consisted of common pokémon; ones that already existed in the modern day that had only needed a few trips to the pokémon center and a few vaccinations to clear for public appearances. His other pokémon however…

Emmet stiffened when a heavy weight crawled up his leg and settled into his lap, a familiar golden-yellow paw scrabbling to reach for his pen. Gently, Emmet tucked his pen away. "Shoo, Mustard. No ink for you."

Mustard was a Sneasel, and not just the regular dark and ice variety, no. Mustard was a shiny Sneasel that had been hatched from the last pokémon Ingo had brought with him to Unova: a long extinct regional evolution of Sneasel called 'Sneaslers'. It just so happened that Ingo's Sneasler was both exceptionally large and exceptionally strong. Ingo had referred to the massive cat-weasel pokémon as a 'noble' but Emmet hadn't quite understood the connotations behind the moniker.

"Hey! Why not recruit Mustard?" Cameron suggested.

"I am Emmet, and I would like to not end up on the news tomorrow. Ingo's Sneasler would kill me."

Cameron nodded almost immediately, schooling his face into a neutral expression. "She would eviscerate you."

"Skin me."

"Probably hang you from a cliff to dry."

Emmet squinted, crossing his arms. "Cold."

"What? She would! The claws on her? She's not even allowed to battle in the subway yet and she's big enough to scrape her head against the cab ceiling. She could probably eat us if she wanted to. There's no way she'd hesitate."

"She wouldn't hesitate for even a second. You are right."

"Snea!" Mustard, having been listening in on the conversation, immediately climbed onto the table and grabbed onto Emmet's hand, a pokéball clutched in its paws.

"Oh, come on, Boss Emmet! Look! Mustard's totally down to battle, aren't you, little guy?" Cameron reached out and playfully ruffled the shiny fur along Mustard's head, the weasel pokémon letting out a tiny purr as it leaned into the man's touch. "Mustard follows you around all the time even when Boss Ingo is here. It's obvious he likes you! Let him join the team! I'm sure he'll thrive."

Mustard squeaked in confirmation, playfully rolling the pokéball around on the table as if considering the notion of one day being a battling pokémon. It smiled, its fangs poking out from its mouth as it jumped back into Emmet's lap and curled up, continuing to purr loudly.

Emmet reached down and let his fingers settle into Mustard's soft fur. "I will… consider it."

Once again, Cameron's tablet vibrated. The young man reached over to check his tablet and almost immediately, his jaw dropped. Eyes wide, Cameron squinted at the screen, practically shaking with excitement. "Oh, sweet dragons. This is gonna be so fucking rad."

"Language," Emmet chided.

"Boss. Boss, gimme your trainer card. I need to send you two pokémon I just got in a mystery trade. Please. Hand me your numbers. Give them to me."

"At least take him on a date first," Cloud snarked, having walked into the room. He took a seat in a chair near Ingo's desk, crossing his legs. "You gonna ask him to come over to your place next, huh Cameron?"

Emmet ignored the jab. "What pokémon did you receive?"

"You'll find out," Cameron replied smoothly. "Just give me your trainer card."

"Cameron's probably gonna send you a Zubat."

"I will flood your pc with Ratattas if you keep talking over there, Cloud" Cameron threatened. He then whipped around to stare pathetically at Emmet. "Boss, please."

"… Okay. Fine."

Cameron hurried over to the station's mobile pc station in the next room and quickly typed in Emmet's trainer card number, rocking back-and-forth on the balls of his feet as his eyes jittered across the screen. As he worked, Emmet felt his Xtransceiver vibrate a few times on his wrist. Multiple notifications. Multiple pokémon sent to his pc from Cameron.

"Panpour-Pal, modernized," Cloud muttered under his breath. "Wouldn't be surprised if whatever pokémon you get ends up bricking your pc. That or it bursts into flames."

"Can it, Cloud," Cameron bristled.

"Win in a battle against me," Cloud snarked back.

"Loudmouth."

"Angry that I'm right?"

"Not in the slightest!"

Emmet chuckled lowly, taking Cameron's place as he inserted his trainer card and checked his pc, immediately noticing the notifications about the traded pokémon Cameron had sent him. He was immediately greeted by a pop-up screen accompanied by a long wall of text. "Dex error? Does not exist?" Emmet frowned, scrolling to check the descriptions of his newly traded pokémon. "Caaameron," Emmet drawled angrily, irritation creeping into his voice. "The pokémon you sent me do not exist. Somehow."

"I know! Isn't it great?" Cameron hurriedly scooched in beside Emmet, pointing at the first one he had sent. "Got these from some trainers in the Paldea region! Did you hear? Apparently, there's been some rush to document some foreign pokémon that appeared in this big, huge crater there. And the pokémon I just sent you? They're examples. They're from that crater!"

Emmet scrolled over to the first one. "Slither Wing?" He squinted. "Bug and fighting type?" He then pulled up the description, the corners of his mouth turning upward as the image of the pokémon flickered across his screen.

"Oh, dragons. That's one fucked-up looking Volcarona." From behind them, Cloud snickered, taking long drags from his energy drink. "Should've left that thing in whatever hole it crawled out of. Reminds me of your Archaeops though, boss."

"Archie is perfect in every way," Emmet grumbled back.

"It's called a Paradox pokémon in Paldea," Cameron cut back in. "And they're not illegal to battle with!"

"Are they supposed to be illegal elsewhere? You're not really selling your case here, Cam," Cloud pointed out.

Emmet ignored the two squabbling men, flicking over to the second one. That one he definitely recognized, feeling the muscles of his face begin to ache when he reflexively scowled at the image before him. "Iron Bundle... This is literally just a steel-wrapped Delibird."

Cloud whistled. "Yeah, I can't imagine anybody battling with that thing, let alone letting it into their house. That just looks like a robot with extra steps. I wonder if it could connect to Bluetooth."

"Give. It. A. Chance." Cameron was practically begging at that point, clapping after each word. "Just get to know them a little! I hear that they're cool pokémon and I think you'd do well with them, boss."

At Emmet's side, Mustard let out a curious chirp and climbed his shoulder, pointing eagerly at the array of pokémon on the pc screen. Mustard rubbed its cheek against Emmet's face, continuing to point and squeak until Emmet eventually relented.

"Very well. I am Emmet and I will reconsider switching around my team. But. Only for a week or two. A trial period." Emmet moved his coat back and slid the pokéballs containing his main team toward the left side of his belt- right toward his dominant left hand. He then withdrew the two paradox pokémon along with the suggested pokémon that Cameron had mentioned before. "I have one condition, though."

"And what's that?" Cameron asked innocently.

"Under no circumstances can either of you inform Ingo about this."

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "You're gonna try and destroy him, aren't you?"

"Try?" Emmet echoed, grinning from ear to ear. "No. I will obliterate him. Completely decommission him. That is not a threat; it is a promise! His Hisui team is strong," Emmet alluded, monologuing more to himself than talking to Cloud or Cameron. "But! I can and will assemble a stronger team!" He then picked up Mustard and set him into the crook of one arm, settling his new partners along the right side of his pokémon belt. "And it all starts with Mustard."

Cameron giggled. "Hehehe. Name the Tinkaton 'Ketchup'."