Hope you enjoy this new chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon
In a world that revolved around Pokemon it was only fair to assume that any events revolving around them would be popular. Be it from a mere celebration to a festival.
However I sorely underestimated just how popular the beginning of a new Pokemon League season could be.
I only realized my folly the moment Lucas and I stepped foot into Jubilife City. After a very tiresome journey through the forest that had once tried to kill the both of us I was very much looking forward to some peace and quiet in the city. That sort of wistful thinking didn't exactly go well with the fact that they were holding a festival but I didn't think too much about it.
I mean how popular could one festival be in a world filled with pokemon?
My gobsmacked face would reflect just how wrong I was when I saw the bustling streets of Jubilife City.
"Take it you haven't been to a festival like this one have you?" Teased Lucas from beside me as he grinned at my shocked expression.
"Certainly nothing like this," I said after I overcame my shock.
Lucas chuckled at my answer as he looked back at the seemingly never ending crowd of people and pokemon that were walking through the streets of the city. "The start of the Sinnoh League Circuit is one of the biggest events that everyone in the region looks forward to. For many it's the start of journeys that many trainers, including myself, look forward to."
"It also doesn't help that Jubilife City is one of the main cities of Sinnoh, only being rivaled by Heartstone City at the center of the region." He also added as we stood watching the crowds. I was surprised just how well the streets were accommodating people but also pokemon of different shapes and sizes. "Not only that but this city is connected to Oreburgh City through the east but also Canclave in the west as well."
"And seeing how Roark is one of the easier gym leaders to challenge for the first badge it would make sense that many trainers would choose this city as their starting point." I realized as I connected the dots.
It had certainly been an interesting piece of information to learn, that there necessarily wasn't a set order of what gym leaders you could challenge. It wasn't like in the game where you had to fight a pre-established order of gym leaders to get your badges.
No instead you could challenge whichever gym leader you wanted for whatever badge number you were on. Want to challenge Volkner, the electric gym leader, for your first badge instead of your last badge? You could certainly do it.
"The rock type is a type that has a lot of weaknesses that can be taken advantage of early in the circuit. Though I've seen just how tough they can be if you were to fight them at the end of your circuit." Lucas explained and I could see how that made sense with how defensive rock types could be. Add in the fact that type matchups didn't necessarily determine victory in elite level battles meant that rock types could be really troublesome to deal with.
And that was one of the main reasons why even though there was no set order of gym leaders you could face, pretty much everyone followed the same order. It was because even though gym leaders would scale their difficulty with what badge level you were on, it didn't take away the fact that some gyms were inherently much more difficult than others.
Take for example the Sinnohian ghost type gym leader, Fantina. The ghost typing was an incredibly difficult type to fight if you're unprepared to face it. With only having two type weakness and being completely immune to normal type moves, attempting to challenge her for your first badge was seen as a useless endeavor by the average pokemon trainer.
Hence why she was typically challenged in the middle of a trainer's circuit journey where trainers would have pokemon or moves that could hit ghost type pokemon.
"Well it's good thing we plan on challenging Roark first as opposed to his father in Canclave City." I said as I thought about the 6th gym leader you would've fought on a normal Platinum playthrough. "As much as I love a good challenge I don't think facing off against a steel type gym for my first badge is a great choice."
Lucas grimaced as he too imagined fighting a steel type with a pokemon that only knew normal type moves. "No it would not."
"You two just came from Jubilife Forest right?" A woman asked as she approached us, handing us two fliers. "Make sure you don't miss out on the upcoming coordinator festival!"
"We won't," I said as we took the fliers and thanked the woman.
"Isn't your sister planning on participating?" I asked as I turned to Lucas.
"She did. That's all I've had to listen to her say for the past month." My friend nodded as we inspected the flier that was promoting the upcoming coordinator festival. "And since I'm here I sort of want to meet up with her and see how she's doing."
"What a caring little brother you are," I teased with a grin.
Lucas' cheeks exploded in red before he pointed a finger at me, which prompted me to explode in laughter. "I was born just a minute behind her okay!"
"How about we meet up an hour before the official broadcast of the League later tonight?" He said after I got my laughter down. "It's where Champion Cynthia officiates the ceremony that would commence the start of the circuit at the Lily of the Valley island."
"Sounds like a great plan," I nodded as I made sure to make an alarm on my phone for the meet up. "See you then."
I waved Lucas goodbye before the two of us went our separate ways, the two of us getting easily swallowed up by the crowds of Jubilife City. After some minor difficulty navigating through the crowds I managed to find a decently quiet place so that I could make the proper preparations.
"Alright you've been cooped up in that ball for awhile now," I said as I pulled out one of my pokeballs and released the pokemon within it. "Come on out."
A red light shot out from the pokeball to reveal my trickster pokemon who gave me a confused tilt of her head when she surveyed our surroundings.
"Shuppet?"
"I want to avoid gaining as much attention as possible. Bringing Dreepy out would just make me the center of attention." I explained before I motioned to her. "You on the other hand…"
"Shuppet!" The puppet pokemon cried out, understanding where I was going.
"Exactly." I smiled as I pulled out my pokedex and looked up the information that it had on the Jubilife Festival. "Let's go see what this place has to offer us."
Walking through the crowded streets of Jubilife City was certainly an experience with Shuppet. Pretty much everyone that I bumped shoulders with was either a trainer who was eager for the start of the league circuit or someone who really liked watching the battles between trainers.
Equally excited were the numerous vendors who had set up shop all over the city, promoting their items for trainers so that they could rack in a profit. They were selling items ranging from potions to special training devices that would help trainers improve their pokemon's strength to berries or even some of the fabled TMs.
Whether or not they were reliable or just scams, I could not tell. A part of me regretted not bringing Lucas along just so I knew whether or not something was a scam or not. I'm pretty sure a reusable TM for Ice Beam did not cost 100,000 pokedollars.
"What do you think? Would it help you out?" I said to Shuppet as I held up a harness. The two of us were currently in a store that was promoting training equipment for pokemon. The harness in question was rather easy to use, just strap in a weight to it and harness it on any pokemon to build up their strength and stamina as they trained with it.
The floating ghost pokemon maneuvered closer to the harness, giving it an appraising look with her eyes before looking towards me and shaking her head in disapproval.
"That's a shame but to be expected," The vendor whose shop I had been browsing said as I handed the harness back to him. "Ghost pokemon don't usually go through any major changes when they evolve, unless they're a pokemon that gains a ghost typing through evolution."
It made sense, apparitions/spirits didn't really have muscles that they had to train unlike most pokemon. I could always buy such training equipment if I ever caught one of those pokemon but off the top of my head I knew not many of them resided in Sinnoh.
The only pokemon that he could think of that gained a ghost typing that resided in Sinnoh was Snorunt. Get a Dawn Stone and use it on a female Snorunt and you'd get a Froslass.
There were just several problems with this. The first being that Snorunt were ice types and the lands near Snowpoint City were the only places they could live in, meaning I'd have to cross nearly the entire region to find one.
Second problem was procuring a Dawn Stone to even use. In the games evolutionary stones weren't really all that hard to get but here in reality they were much harder. The normal Fire, Electric, and Water Stones were expensive as hell to buy straight up and they were in limited supply as well. Trying to find one in nature was almost impossible so that wasn't a route most trainers went for.
Dawn Stones were an entirely different rarity altogether, so rare in fact that the only ones available for sale could only be afforded by either the rich or by an Ace level trainer.
So unless I hit the jackpot there was no way in hell I was paying for a Dawn Stone.
The last problem was I didn't really see a need to have a Froslass on the team. The ice typing is great but usually you would have an ice type to handle any potential dragon pokemon, which I already had.
Sorry Froslass, but unless you get dropped into my lap like Dreepy and Shuppet were then you're probably not going to be on the team.
"Could I interest you in anything else perhaps?" He offered.
"I'll have to decline," I apologized as I decided that the chance that I would be catching a pokemon that wasn't already a ghost type would be pretty low. "With how much funds I possess I think it's better off for me to save my money just in case something comes up in the future."
It wasn't like I was 'poor', having close to almost five thousand pokedollars to my name, but having seen the 'normal' prices that things had gone for in the various shops made me realize I had to be really smart with what I bought.
Most of what I bought was travel essentials, from non perishable food cans safe for both myself and my pokemon, to some extra travel clothes. My biggest investment however was purchasing the same bag that Lucas had, the one that used the same technology a pokeball used which virtually made my bag almost bottomless.
I wasn't even going to try and comprehend how that was physically possible.
Such a purchase severely placed a strain on my funds, nearly bankrupting me in the process, but I considered it a worthwhile investment. Not only that but since I was sponsored by Professor Rowan I was eligible for a discount that took away most of the cost.
Pokemon Professor sponsorships were absolutely amazing for trainers. I couldn't even fathom the expenses that a normal trainer would have to go through.
"No worries, please have a nice day." The shopkeeper bowed.
"You too." I said before both Shuppet and I left the tent shop and resumed our adventure around Jubilife City.
"Buying items for you guys was a difficulty that I was not expecting to face." I commented as the two of us continued to walk through the streets of Jubilife. The crowds hadn't really died down yet, if anything it had gotten bigger and that was excluding the fact that Cynthia's broadcast wouldn't be aired until later today.
"Shuppet." The ghost pokemon commented as she floated beside me, above the crowds and not needing to worry about bumping into anyone. To say I was jealous of her was an understatement.
"Man, I don't know why I thought training pokemon would be as simple as just feeding them and having them battle other pokemon. If anything it's more in line with what I expected would go in to train an athlete for the Olympics." I groaned, blaming the games for making pokemon leveling seem so casual.
At least some things were still free to trainers, like the services provided by Pokemon Centers and the free lodging and food they provided for trainers.
Shuppet gave me a confused tilt of her head at the unknown terminology. "Shup?"
"Oh yeah you guys don't have the Olympics here." I apologized. As one might have guessed the Olympics was technically the League Circuit. After all, in a world filled with pokemon there wasn't really any hype for normal human competition. "It's just a massive tournament where countries send their top athletes to compete on an international stage. All of their athletes get access to top of the line training equipment, not unlike elite level pokemon."
Though I'm pretty sure there has to be at least one national bodybuilding contest for fighting pokemon in this world because if there wasn't that was an opportunity waiting to be taken advantage of.
I glanced over to Shuppet while my hand went up and touched the pokeball of my other partner, thinking about all the training they had gone through in the past week. "Though I suppose you and Dreepy don't need any items to improve your training."
"Shuppet!" My pokemon exclaimed in pride.
"As I thought." I smiled as I looked to see where we had ended up now. Somehow the direction of the crowd had brought the two of us to a park where it was thankfully not crowded, with only a few pokemon and people present.
"Hey, how about a little break?" I asked my gray sock pokemon partner. "We've been walking for quite awhile and my feet could use a break right now. Want to grab some ice cream?" I pointed to an ice cream stand promoting a sale of their flavors.
The puppet pokemon grinned as she followed my finger, nodding her head enthusiastically. "Shuppet!"
"Alright let's go grab some then," I grinned before the two of us made our way to the ice cream vendor.
"Thank you for your business, please have a nice day!" The seller thanked me as I left their ice cream stand with two vanilla ice cream cones in hand. If there was one thing that was thankful that was the same in this world was that most of the food items were relatively the same.
However I was not so eager to try what a Tauros steak would taste like.
"Shuppet?" I looked around, noticing that my prankster was nowhere near me. She had just been floating near my shoulder when I had been purchasing the ice cream cones. "Where the hell did you go?"
Already I was dreading to hear that my pokemon had decided to have some 'fun' with a random passerby.
Thankfully that did not happen as I was very quickly able to find my missing pokemon partner, for she had not traveled that far from the ice cream stand.
I found Shuppet watching a show being performed in front of her with immense diligence. There in front of her was an old man and a Misdreavus were performing a show. The man was playing the flute whilst the ghost pokemon was manipulating the strings of a marionette with ghostly energy to dance to the song.
I watched silently as the duet continued their act until the man played the final act of his song, with the Screech Pokemon manipulating her marionette to bow in unison with the final note of it all. With the end of the performance Shuppet voiced her appreciation of the performance and if my hands weren't full with ice cream cones I would clap as well.
Fortunately even without clapping my presence was noted by the old man as after setting down his instrument he turned to face me.
"Did you enjoy the show young man?" He asked me.
"I did," I said as I stepped forward, offering Shuppet her ice cream cone which she took by enveloping the cone with ghostly energy and brought it closer to her for her to enjoy. "It was a very pleasant song to listen to."
"I'm glad that someone enjoyed my music," The old man joked as he made himself comfortable on his seat. "It's been some time since I've had an audience."
The two of us stayed silent as we watched our two ghost pokemon happily chat with the other. Shuppet was enthralled as Misdreavus manipulated the marionette in front of her, having the puppet dance or just move its limbs in general.
As Shuppet chatted with her fellow ghost pokemon the old man broke the silence. "Is this Shuppet yours young lad?"
"She is," I said as the Misdreavus allowed Shuppet to play with the puppet, much to the elation of the prankster. "Apologies if she gave you any trouble while I was away."
"Ah there's nothing to apologize for." The old man was quick to assure me. "She was a very attentive watcher. Columbina and I enjoyed giving her our performance."
Upon hearing what I presumed was her name the Misdreavus turned to us and cried out happily making the old man chuckle.
"Say young man," The old man turned to face me as his pokemon returned to playing with mine. "Do you mind humoring this old man for a little bit."
"Of course." I said as I finished up the last bits of my ice cream cone before giving him the rest of my undivided attention.
"How long have you had your Shuppet?" He asked.
"Around two weeks," I answered as I thought back to how I met her in Professor Rowan's lab. It had only been less than a month since she was traveling with me but it honestly felt like I had her forever.
"She's very comfortable around you," He noted as he looked back to Shuppet and Misdreavus playing with each other. "I've known trainers who had more time than you who struggle to form connections with ghost pokemon.
"You're not the first to tell me that," I thought back to every single person who had the same thing to me. Was it really that special that I had a great bond with my pokemon even if I had only been with them for less than a month?
The man chuckled at my answer before he turned to me. "Tell me, have you had any special dreams yet?"
"Dreams?" I asked back in confusion.
"Yes dreams," The old man repeated again. "Dreams that revolve around watching a life that you've never lived?"
"A life I've never lived?" I said as I tried to think of this seemingly rhetorical question. Wasn't that the whole point of dreams? Disregarding the whole philosophical debate of what dreams were meant to be, wasn't it common to dream of a life you've never lived?
Yet the old man's words reminded me of the peculiar dream that I had the night where we fought that Kleavor pokemon in Jubilife Forest.
"Now that you mention it I think I did have one," I then began to tell him of the strange dream I had at the Jubilife Forest, of the two siblings that had sung a rather simple but catchy song as they traversed through the forest and how right after I woke I had met Pumpkaboo.
I hadn't put much thought into the dream as I just chalked it up as my mind just being weird. But seeing how the old man smiled at my retelling made me think there was more to it than meets the eye.
"I see, if you're willing to listen to an old man's ramblings I'll tell all I know." The old man offered to which I nodded my head in acceptance.
"When I first met Columbina she had been attracted to a piece I had been playing in this park. Others might call it misfortune for a ghost pokemon to be the only one attracted to your music but I was glad that at least someone enjoyed my music. She was a frequent visitor until she allowed me to catch her." He regaled with a wistful tone, no doubt reminiscing on those fond memories.
"After that it didn't take too long until I began to experience a peculiar dream. A peculiar dream of being a dancer was dancing to the same melody that attracted Columbina to me." The man recounted.
"I grew curious and found out that the song was supposedly played during the ancient times of Sinnoh, played to honor the pokemon nobles that watched over the land." He closed his eyes as he chuckled. "Why I've dreamed that dream so many times I can still make out most of the details. From the fire of the hearth that was in the center, to the people who were cheering or dancing alongside me, to the chill of winter as it numbed my skin.
Hearing the man's recollection of his dream made me realize that I had encountered something similar as well. "Now that you mention it, my dream felt the same as that. I was able to smell the forest and could hear the cascading streams of the river nearby."
"So what you're saying is Pumpkaboo really trusted me for me to dream that?" I said as I realized where he was going with all of this.
The old man nodded to my theory. "It would appear so. I may not be an expert in ghost pokemon or claim to even be knowledgeable in history but I've had Columbina long enough to piece the clues together."
Hearing his recounting had me thinking of just how mystical ghost pokemon were. Unlike normal pokemon they seemed to dabble in the realm of mystical, more so than pokemon usually were.
"Here young man," His voice broke me out of my thoughts and made me refocus on the present. With his arm outstretched the man was offering me a marionette puppet that was identical to the one that his Misdreavus had. "I believe that you should take this."
"I can't accept this," I kindly said as I attempted to bring out my wallet. "Let me at least pay you for-"
"Ah it is of no worries," The old man just casually waved my concern off. "I fear in my old age that my hands are no longer as strong or dexterous as they used to be. Besides, it seems your Shuppet really enjoys using the puppet and I know Columbina would approve of the puppet being given to her new friend. Who knows, perhaps you will find more about your pokemon this way."
I looked back to Misdreavus and Shuppet continuing playing with each other and a smile bloomed on my face. Shuppet had indeed made a new friend today and with the conversation I had with this man perhaps I found a way to know more about them.
So without any more trouble I accepted the marionette from the kind man.
"If ever you find yourself back in Jubilife do drop by? Columbina and I would love to play another performance for you both." The old man said as me and Shuppet gave our farewells to him and his pokemon.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," I called back before Shuppet and we turned around to make our way back to the center of the city.
"Dreams huh?" I muttered to myself as I and Shuppet, who was very engrossed in playing with her new marionette puppet.
"Shuppet?" The puppet pokemon momentarily diverted her attention from her puppet towards me.
"Sorry I was just rambling," I apologetically told her as my mind drifted to the old man's words. I was curious about what dreams I would have with my growing team of ghost pokemon. But more than anything…
What dreams would Dreepy, the pokemon that I had mysteriously woken up with, have me experience?
Lucas sighed a breath of relief as he was finally able to push his way through the crowds into a fairly empty street. He had always known the crowds in the Jubilife Festival were massive and he had braced himself for it.
But all the planning in the world could not have prepared him to be smooshed shoulder to shoulder with a sea of people.
At least one silver lining from braving the crowds was that he would not get to miss out on his sister making her debut at the Jubilife Pokemon Contest. While he and his sister both loved pokemon they had different passions that were related to them. He loved the pokemon battling scene while his sister idolized their mom who was a famous Pokemon coordinator.
He knew more than anyone how excited Dawn was for the start of the Pokemon Contest Circuit. Every day before his sister had received her starter she had watched all their mother's old clips of when she had been a coordinator, being awed by each one.
And with the ordeal of Jubilife Forest and how it had delayed all of their plans Lucas had feared that the Contest had simply pushed on. He was glad to hear that the organizers had decided to push back the festival a few extra days which meant that he got to support his sister in person for her debut as a pokemon coordinator.
But that left him with a problem of what he was going to do for a couple days. He knew that Lux wasn't exactly in a rush to get to Oreburgh City to get their first badge but the only highlight of the Jubilife Festival was the commencement speech of Champion Cynthia. After that most of the trainers would be eager to start their gym circuit, leaving the city fairly empty.
"Now what to do?" He said to himself as he pondered on what he and Lux could do for the next following days. Before he could think of anything he was broken out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of shouting. Normally that wouldn't be too surprising in such a crowded event but he had ended up in a fairly empty street, making it seem strange for shouting to happen.
Turning his head the young trainer saw in an alleyway where a female tanned teenager around his age was being cornered by two men.
"Hey stop right there!" The teenager shouted as he ran up to them.
"What's it to you little brat?" One of the men sneered as they turned to face him.
"We were just advertising a business for this young interested gal." His partner backed him up as the two faced Lucas, creating an intimidating front.
But the days of Lucas being easily intimidated were behind him. "By accosting her in an alleyway?" He questioned suspiciously as he stood his ground. "If you sound so sure why don't we call a police officer to clear you then?"
That was a bluff as Lucas was sure that he would be unable to get an officer since all of them would be too occupied watching the parts of the city where most of the crowds were at. Just in case a fight did happen he was ready to send out his team.
Fortunately after a period of tense silence passed the two men fell for his buff as they took a step back and looked at each other.
"Tch, it's not worth it," One of the men sneered as he and his partner began to walk past Lucas, roughly bumping into him on the way out.
"Better watch your back, kid." The other man quipped before the two turned the corner and were out of eyesight.
When the two men disappeared out of sight Lucas breathed a sigh of relief. "They're gone now," He turned to face the other teenager. "Are you alright-!"
He was stopped in his tracks when instead of seeing an expression of gratitude he saw an expression of annoyance on the tanned teenager's face. "You screwed me!"
Her anger threw Lucas out of the loop. "I-I'm sorry?"
"You heard me!" She exclaimed out loud. "I was so close to getting them to take the bait but you just had to come along and ruin it for me!"
"Bait?"
"Yes bait!" She shouted as a Magnemite came floating down to them. The first thing that Lucas noticed about the steel electric type pokemon was the camera that was attached to its metallic body.
"Ever since people began to show up for the festival there's been an increase in missing pokemon reports. No one knows why but I know a conspiracy when I see one." The tanned girl explained before she glared at Lucas with her red eyes.
"And I was so close to getting my biggest scoop! I know every Pokemon caring service in this city and those two weren't from any of them! All I had to do was give them this empty pokeball with a tracker, follow them back to their hideout, and boom, case solved!" She placed her hands on her hips, breathing heavily as she ended her tirade.
Lucas' cheeks were red as he heard everything. Perhaps he had been too quick to jump the gun on this one. "I'm sorry." Was all he could say as an apology.
"Sorry doesn't cut it, mister hero." The teenager retorted as she walked up and jabbed a finger at his chest. "You owe me!"
"Owe you?" He asked in equal parts disbelief and confusion.
"That's right. You owe me my next big story." The girl confirmed as she took a step back before proudly pointing to herself and grinning.
"The name's Amber Alana!" She introduced with a flourish, her Magnemite also joining in on the pose.
"Rising star journalist of the Sinnoh Region!"
Whilst the streets of Jubilife City were filled with cheer and festivity in preparation of the next league season, not all was well.
For directly underneath the city, in a large room an operation was being carried out.
In the spacious room stacks upon stacks of pokemon cages could be seen scattered throughout. These cages held a variety of pokemon, from hordes of Bidoof and Starly to even captive Ursarings.
Supervising the captive pokemon were individuals all wearing the same clothing, a large black and gold cloak that covered the entire body with a gold mask that covered their entire face. The masked people could be seen all throughout the facility performing various tasks. From guarding their captives with their pokemon to making the rounds to ensure that there were no potential escapees.
Only one of these individuals stood out. Standing in the middle of all of this chaos was a masked individual whose helmet was different from the rest. Their golden helmet was definitely much more ornate than everyone else's, a crown of golden roses adorning her helmet.
"Why do I even bother wearing this mask," A feminine voice muttered from underneath the Rose mask as she supervised the entire operation.
"Cardinal Flauros," One of the grunts walked up to her and bowed to her. "I am here to report today's quota."
"Out with it then," The now identified Cardinal demanded as she turned her attention to him.
"Of course Ma'am. We have managed to exceed our daily projected quota. We believe that if we have two other days we will be able to complete our goal." The grunt relayed.
"That is good news," Flauros placed a hand on the chin of her helmet in contemplation. "Tonight is when the Champion will give her address to the entirety of Sinnoh. Come the morning most of the trainers will have left this city, potentially making it harder for us to finish our mission."
"Perhaps if we were more open in our mission we may be able to complete it faster." The grunt suggested.
"No," She shot down the suggestion immediately. "When the majority of the trainers have left the authorities of this city will have noticed the reports of the missing pokemon. Being any more open now and we would have the authorities down here in no time."
"I understand Cardinal Flauros," The grunt immediately bowed. "Please forgive me for my lack of insight."
The Cardinal waved her hand in dismissal. "It is of no worries. Send a message to Cardinal Gremory that we will be cutting our mission here-!"
The Cardinal was cut short when there were loud shouts. Turning her head she saw a group of grunts surrounding a Tauros that had seemingly been able to escape its cage and was now in an enraged state as it stomped its hooves on the ground in irritation.
"Ma'am its dangerous you have to-," The grunt beside her tried to warn her but she took a step forward.
"Enough," She declared in a loud enough tone, drawing the attention of both human and pokemon unto her.
The normal type pokemon's eyes glared at her form before it went on its hind legs, kicked its front leg into the air, and roared. "Tauros!"
"Yield." Was all Flauros demanded from the enraged pokemon.
Her demands merely enraged the already angered bull pokemon. "Tauros!" The bull roared once more before it began to stampede directly towards her, deadly horns pointed forward to skewer.
"Very well then," But being in the path of such an enraged pokemon did not scare the Cardinal. Instead of panicking she merely stood her ground as her hand disappeared into her cloaks and retrieved a pokeball from within.
"Lurantis," Was all she said before she threw the pokeball forward, releasing the Bloom Sickle pokemon within.
"Lurantis!" The grass type pokemon did not need to be issued any orders as it readied one of its scythe like hands with grass type energy. The moment the Tauros got into range the grass type pokemon struck with lightning fast speed, so fast that one would have missed it if they blinked.
The effect was immediate as the bull pokemon immediately floundered onto the floor, left in a state of unconsciousness as the grass type pokemon stood victorious above it.
"Punish whoever placed this Tauros in their cell," She demanded as a Machamp came by and dragged the unconscious Tauros back into an open cell. "I will not tolerate such carelessness again."
"By your wish ma'am." The grunt bowed as they immediately set out to carry out the punishment.
Recalling her Lurantis back into her ball the Cardinal resisted the urge to click her tongue. She despised when careless accidents like these occurred. Past experiences taught her that such accidents were the reason why operations failed. Fortunately an escapee pokemon was expected to happen and they had already captured the Tauros so all was-
"Cardinal Flauros," Another grunt walked up to her. "We've noticed that another pokemon has managed to escape their cell."
Looks like this day was just getting much more annoying for her. "And?" She questioned as she could feel irritation creeping up into her.
The grunt immediately picked up something was wrong but continued. "W-We just wanted to inform you of the-"
"So you plan on doing nothing about it?" She cut him off as she took a threatening step forward.
The grunt took a step back, feeling the effect of being the target of the Cardinal's ire. "B-But its just one pokemon? Surely the mistress will not-!"
They were quickly shut up when Flauros closed what little distance remained between them. The grunt couldn't even choke out a yelp when they felt the undeniable feeling of steel lightly being placed on their torso.
"Let me make it clear of our objectives in this city." Cardinal Flauros spoke in a cold tone as she slightly pushed the dagger forward, not enough to draw blood but more than enough to get her point across. "We are to gather pokemon for our cause whilst keeping a low profile from the authorities and not to draw their attention."
"What do you think will happen should that pokemon reunite with its trainer? Do you think that their trainer will simply let this go? No, they will be guided by their misguided righteousness, no doubt involving the authorities and we will have risked everything we have strived to accomplish."
"And if that ever happens, should we be dragged into the light." The Cardinal loomed over the grunt, who was shaking in terror as she began to slowly push the dagger forward. "Who do you think our Mistress will blame hmm?"
"F-Forgive me Lady Flauros!" The grunt spoke in fear as they fell on their knees and placed their head on the ground. "M-Mercy, I-I have made a fatal error in judgment!"
The Cardinal merely hummed as she eyed the sniveling Grunt. Without saying anything else she removed her dagger and turned around. "Ensure that the last of our agents in the city are called back. I want us gone before the light of the next morning."
"A-And the escapee?" The grunt shakily asked as they stood back up.
From underneath her cloak Flauros brought out another pokeball. "I shall personally deal with them myself."
The grunt gave a hasty apology once for their actions more before making themselves scarce, not willing to risk gaining more of her ire.
"Time to tie up some loose ends." The Cardinal said as she tossed the pokeball into the air and released its occupant. From the bright flash a Decidueye quietly greeted its trainer.
"Just like old times my friend." She greeted the pokemon who merely hooted in response.
"Leave no witnesses."
The grass and ghost pokemon nodded before they took off running, the hunt beckoning them as they went to pursue the escapee. As soon as her trusted partner was out of sight, Flauros was left to clean up the messes as she was used to.
"Till the Reckoning." She whispered under her breath before she began to issue new commands for the grunts under her command.
Meanwhile somewhere else within Jubilife City.
In a dark and dusty room that only had a singular red light as a source of light a pokemon grunted as it slammed its two fists into the steel door in front of it.
Yet despite the pokemon's best efforts to break the door it refused to budge, even despite the fact its repeated strikes had already created a noticeable dent in it.
The pokemon glanced back to see if its abductors had managed to track it down yet but it seems that was not the case. The escapee pokemon had waited for it until an opportunity had presented itself, which it did in the form of an enraged Tauros, before managing to slip through their cell's walls.
Still they were not free just yet. They were in unfamiliar territory and no doubt their escape had already been discovered.
One thing was clear, they would not go willingly back. Not without a fight.
However they were broken out of their musings when a red light that was on top of the door they were trying to open suddenly turned green. The sounds of gears turning filled the pokemon's ears before the door swung open, revealing the outside world.
The pokemon's hands immediately balled into fists as they settled into a combat stance, wary of the sudden action. When seconds passed and the door opening was indeed not a trap the pokemon slowly stepped past the door.
Stepping foot in a dark and dirty alleyway, the escapee pokemon took note of its surroundings. Confirming that indeed this was no trap the pokemon immediately broke into a sprint, rushing through the alleyways of Jubilife City to search for a way back home.
Back in the room that the pokemon had just left a slight cracked monitor came to life as a static-y like face appeared. The eyes of the face looked all over the room before smiling right before the power to the room cut out, throwing the entire room into darkness as the door slammed shut.
Sorry this chapter took like a year to get out. Life just got so busy and I kind of forgot that I wrote this and that writing pokemon fics takes alot of preparation and research. Couple that with my main fic and I didn't have a bunch of time to write this.
Going to try a different approach of making these chapters shorter than what I usually write and see where it goes from there.
Welp that's all for this chapter. If you enjoyed it, drop a fav/follow/kudos as they really help me out with creating great chapters. Reviews are deeply appreciated, they're the biggest motivation to keep writing, and if you have a question or a really interesting theory I am more than happy to reply. Please be patient if I don't respond to you super fast. Even if I don't respond to your comment for whatever reason, know that I read each and every one of them! PMing me is the best way for me to respond to your questions.
Peace!