I'm back. Sorry for the month break, but now I'm back and I've got another chapter ready. This time around its the final part of the Porta Vista mini-arc so to speak, and its gonna be an action focused one too. Enjoy.
XXXX
The sound of the waves filled the port as ships went to and fro from the harbor. As the ships were going by, Ash let out a small sigh as he, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu were sitting by the water (the three Pokemorphs dressed in their normal traveling outfits). "I can't believe we read the times wrong," Ash sighed.
"I guess that's what we get for looking at the schedule too quickly," Brock sighed. "Well, it isn't so bad. It'll only be a few more hours before the next ferry."
"And if nothing else, we are in Porta Vista still, so…a bit of an extension on our vacation?" Misty chuckled a bit.
"That's definitely a good way to look at it," came Professor Oak's voice as the three turned to see the Arcanine walking towards them, Carmine and Delia not far behind. Professor Oak was back to his usual day to day outfit, albeit missing the labcoat, leaving him in his red shirt and brown pants. Delia was dressed in her favorite cardigan and skirt, though she'd opted to add a sun hat since it was a rather sunny day. Carmine on the other hand went for a pair of gray pants with a blue close-fitted tank top.
"You're all in luck, the next ferry should be in about 3 hours, so we took the liberty of getting these for you three," Delia smiled a bit as she held out some tickets for the next ferry.
"Wow, you didn't have to. We could have gotten them ourselves," Ash said, not wanting to trouble them.
"We didn't have to, but we definitely wanted to," Carmine chuckled a bit. "Besides, after this it'll probably be a while before we next see each other in person. You can't blame us for wanting to do something for you all one more time, right?"
"Well when you put it that way…" Ash said a bit bashfully, before accepting the tickets. "Thanks. We really appreciate it."
"Anytime. Even if you've already set out on your Journey, you're still our little boy," Delia smiled.
"Mom…" Ash groaned, not helped when he noticed Brock looking in amusement, while Misty was trying to hide a snicker.
As that was going on, Pikachu looked towards the ocean and saw something. "Pika?" he blinked, before quickly poking at Misty's arm to get her attention and pointing at what he saw.
"What is it, Pikachu?" Misty asked as she looked in the direction the electric mouse was pointing at, revealing to be… "Hey, it's a Horsea!" she said in surprise, catching everyone else's attention as they looked out and saw the small blue Pokemon.
"Huh, so it is a Horsea," Ash said, taking out his Pokedex and scanning the Horsea. "Horsea, the Dragon Pokemon. Horsea is a Water-type Pokemon native to the Kanto Region. If this Pokemon senses danger, it will vigorously spray water or a special type of ink from its mouth to ward off threats."
"Hm? That Horsea…it seems to be injured," Professor Oak frowned, everyone looking intently at that.
"You're right. I wonder how that happened," Brock frowned.
"Then we've gotta get it to the Pokemon Center," Misty said, taking out one of her Pokeballs, clearly ready to capture Horsea. However before she could do so, Horsea suddenly turned to face the ocean and let out a strong jet of ink from its mouth which landed on the ocean and with a few shifts, soon formed a rough drawing of something that looked like a jellyfish.
"What's it doing?" Ash blinked.
"I'm not sure, but for some reason it's chosen to draw a Tentacool," Professor Oak frowned, easily identifying what that picture was supposed to be.
"We'll worry about that later. I'd better catch it first," Misty said, but before she could catch the Horsea, a loud explosion shook the area, as off the coast, one of the many ships in the water was taking in water and quickly starting to sink rapidly, while a fire had started on board too, forcing the crew to jump off, and from the looks of it, they weren't doing so well in the water for some reason. .
"But first we'd better help those people!" Brock gasped.
"Already on it!" Misty said as she released Staryu, Starmie, and Goldeen.
"I'm helping too!" Ash said as he released Squirtle and Pidgeotto, the two Pokemon quickly helping with the rescue.
"Let me lend a hand too!" Carmine said, throwing two Pokeballs, releasing Dragonite, as well as a Feraligatr, the two Pokemon immediately helping with the impromptu rescue attempt, while Professor Oak, Delia, and Brock quickly went to find a boat just in case.
Between the Pokemon and the boat that they managed to find, it wasn't long before all the crewmembers of the sinking ship were rescued and brought to land…and an interesting to note was that the crew inexplicably was utterly lacking in Water-types and was for some reason made up of Pokemorphs that would usually not be working around large bodies of water.
Either way, they tabled that thought for later, and tried to ask what had happened. However, the crew members who were still coherent just talked about needing to tell the 'Boss' what happened, while all of them seemed to have been hit with a strong paralysis effect. A Pokemon's doing most likely.
"What do you think did this?" Ash frowned as they looked at the ship which had sunk under the waves by now.
"Hard to say," Professor Oak frowned. "I don't know enough to say for sure, but I can't see any signs of this being the work of Pokemorphs looking to steal anything. And if that really is the case then either it was an accident, or it was caused by Wild Pokemon…and that brings up more questions," he frowned.
"I think we should ask whoever this 'Boss' is, maybe they might know something," Delia frowned.
"Probably our best bet yeah," Brock frowned. However, as they were about to ask who the 'Boss' was, Misty noticed the Horsea from before, having come near the shore again.
"You ask them about that. I'll take care of Horsea first," Misty said, before expanding her Pokeball and quickly throwing it at Horsea. The ball hit and sucked Horsea in, the Pokeball landing in the water and floating in place as it shook for a bit, before it 'dinged' in a successful capture.
XXXX
About an hour later…
After making sure the crew members were okay, and getting Horsea to the local Pokemon Center, the group was able to get information on the 'Boss' of the crew, and were pointed towards a certain address. Delia and Professor Oak had opted to stay at the Pokemon Center, leaving Carmine to go along with Ash, Misty, and Brock. What they found…
"I'm the boss!" the apparent boss declared, revealing to be a shrunken old Granbull Pokemorph with red hair styled into a pair of braided pigtails, dressed in dress with a yellow skirt, holding a walking stick in her right hand, and bore a very memorable face.
"Wait, Brutella?!" Ash gasped in surprise, voicing everyone's thoughts.
"Oh? You've met my cousin I see. I suppose we DO look alike, almost like sisters even. But don't be mistaken, because I'M the prettier one."
"Uh…sure?" Brock said, all of them sweat dropping at that.
"I understand that you all helped to save the men on my ship," Nastina said, not giving any indication she heard that. "Thank you very much!" she said before cackling, while the…attendants? Servants? Basically the male Pokemorphs of various species who were for some reason dressed in only speedos and standing by her side pulled out fans and seemed to pose around her somewhat as she laughed.
"Well…you're welcome I guess," Carmine sweat dropped.
"But speaking of that, that was a pretty serious accident. Do you have any idea what might have caused it?" Misty asked.
The moment she did, Nastina let out a small growl. "I don't just have an idea, I know exactly who's responsible for that! It's those damn Tentacool again!"
"Tentacool?" Brock blinked, the group surprised at the answer.
"They're disgusting! They're ugly! And above all they're getting in the way of my business!" Nastina angrily said.
"What do you mean by that?" Carmine frowned.
"Well I'm glad you asked, you see, I'm in the middle of building what will be the world's greatest luxury resort: Nastina's Paradise!" she declared, looking at a model of an amusement park which was connected to a hotel that seemed to be built in the middle of the sea off the coast. She then explained all the features and facilities that it would offer, and they had to admit, it sounded like a pretty nice resort. "Thanks to those Tentacool, construction is going far slower than it should! I don't even know why such despicable creatures exist!"
Misty glared a bit at that, while Ash, Brock, and Carmine were similarly less than impressed. After all, Pokemon aren't like animals, they don't do things without a reason. However, Nastina didn't seem to notice as she seemed to get an idea.
"Say, since you've already helped me once, what's say you help me again?" she said.
"What do you mean?" Ash asked, though his tone was a bit guarded.
"Not to worry, I'm not asking you to help me for free," Nastina chuckled. "I'll reward you handsomely for your services. For starters, if you do this for me I will award you with 1 Million Pokedollars!" she said, one of her…speedo boys…coming up with a suitcase and opened it to reveal the cash inside. "And to sweeten the deal you'll have a year's worth of luxury dinners, and vouchers to stay at my resort once it's finished!" Nastina said. "And all for the simple task of exterminating the Tentacool! Isn't Nastina generous?" she cackled.
The group gulped a bit at that, all of them, even Misty had to admit that that was a tempting offer…but the requirement to get that reward was just 'no' in their books. Something Misty vocalized for the group.
"No deal!" she shouted after a moment. "Your personal feelings about the Tentacool aside, that's no reason to kill them! If you want to do something as horrible as that, then go find someone else!" she glared.
"Not just that," Carmine frowned. "All major constructions usually require permits from the Pokemon League and the appropriate authorities to ensure no excessive habitat disturbance or failing that, to allow the local Pokemon to find a new habitat first," he frowned. "Yet the Tentacool are apparently hell bent on stopping your construction," he said before looking at her a bit suspiciously. "Isn't that funny? That shouldn't happen if all the permits and preparations were done," Carmine frowned. "Are you SURE your construction is legal?"
Nastina flinched for a moment, but quickly glared at him. "Of course I did!" she said quickly. "Its not my fault some stupid Pokemon didn't get the memo!" she glared. "But if you lot aren't gonna help, then get out!" she ordered, and before long the four were escorted out of the building. Once they were out…
"I think a call to the Pokemon League might be in order," Carmine frowned.
"With the way she acted, and how the Tentacool are behaving, I think she's very suspicious," Brock agreed.
"And honestly, how can she just ask people to do something so horrible to the Tentacool. It's not just awful to do that to any Pokemon, but to some as cute as Tentacool…" she sighed.
The three men looked at her a bit weirdly at that. "Okay…not to question your aesthetic choice, but Tentacool aren't really my first thought on 'cute'," Ash sweat dropped, before idly looking them up anyway.
"Tentacool, the Jellyfish Pokemon. Tentacool is a Water/Poison Type Pokemon that is native to the Kanto Region. Tentacool are known to drift in shallow seas, and are known to sting any who reel them in by accident." Dexter recited.
"More importantly, like Mr. Ketchum said, something isn't right here. If the Tentacool are attacking people there has to be a good reason," Misty said.
"Something I intend on finding out soon enough," Carmine nodded. "But first things first, we should meet up with Delia and Professor Oak first. Not to mention your Horsea should be all better now."
"Oh yeah, we left Horsea at the Pokemon Center, didn't we?" Misty said as they quickly made their way to the place in question.
XXXX
A short time later saw them all in front of the Pokemon Center, Horsea happily swimming around in a kiddie pool they set up, looking a lot better than he did before. In the same pool, Pikachu had decided to sit on a small inner tube, enjoying the sun as he floated on the small pool…and sipping a small drink.
Misty smiled as she watched her new Pokemon, glad that he was looking much better now, though she frowned a bit when she turned to see where Carmine and Professor Oak were talking.
"I agree, this construction sounds very strange. In a fully sanctioned construction, Wild Pokemon attacking Pokemorphs to interrupt the process is a very unlikely occurrence," the Arcanine nodded with a frown.
"That's what I'm thinking as well. We should call the Pokemon League. Have them look into this. If Nastina is doing illegal construction, then there's a very real chance it's because her construction is disrupting or even destroying their natural habitats," Carmine said.
"I'll contact them immediately. For now, you all should also be on standby in case anything else happens," Oak frowned as he went into the Pokemon Center to do just that.
"So we're staying here in case anything else happens? Like another attack by the Tentacool?" Ash frowned.
"Yes, we're quite worried that if this keeps up another accident might happen or worse…" Carmine frowned.
"I guess we're in for quite an exciting end to our vacation then…" Delia frowned.
"Speaking of which, are you okay, Mrs. Ketchum? I mean with all this excitement and all…" Brock said, to which Delia chuckled.
"I appreciate the concern, but you don't need to worry about me. I'm far too early into my pregnancy to start slowing down," she said, rubbing her belly a bit, which hadn't even started to develop a baby bump.
Hearing the talk of the Tentacool, Horsea started speaking up, causing Misty to look at him. "Is something wrong, Horsea?" she asked. Horsea kept trying to say something, but she didn't understand.
"Whatever he's trying to say it seems important," Carmine said, walking over to them before he squatted down so he was more on Horsea's level and held up a hand, which soon started glowing blue with Aura.
"What are you…?" Misty blinked, surprised.
"Don't worry, Dad's trying to make it so we can understand what Horsea is saying," Ash said, as Carmine gently placed his hand on Horsea.
"Now try saying that again. Slowly," Carmine said.
Horsea nodded, and this time…they could understand him. "The Tentacool are angry. Really angry. Those people are building over and destroying their homes. I tried to calm them down, but they won't listen to reason. I'm afraid that if we don't do something, they might do something we're all going to regret!" Horsea said.
Everyone's eyes widened at that. "Okay, so that more or less confirms that this construction isn't legal. But what are the Tentacool planning?" Misty gasped.
"I don't know. Right now they've only attacked the ships, but if this keeps up…" Horsea tried to continue, but before he could finish the sound of a PA turning on was heard. Nastina's voice was soon heard, the Granbull apparently announcing her intent of offering the reward she'd offered them to anyone who'd be willing to exterminate the Tentacool.
"She can't seriously think people would agree to this, right? I mean, that's basically violating important laws," Misty frowned.
"I dunno, I mean…even WE felt a bit tempted, right?" Ash frowned. True enough, they heard the sound of footsteps and had to quickly jump out of the way as a small group of Pokemorphs came running past them, no doubt headed for where Nastina was.
"...well look on the bright side, at least it was only that many people. Not even a fraction of the people in town, right?" Brock sweat dropped a bit.
"But now we've got another problem. If they actively start attacking the Tentacool, that might just be the last straw," Carmine frowned.
"Then we can't just ignore this then," Ash frowned. "We'll go on ahead. Mom, Dad, you tell Professor Oak what's going on first."
"Right. We'll also see if we can't get a hold of the authorities. This is going too far," Delia nodded as the three of them along with Pikachu (Horsea was in Misty's arms) ran towards the location the small crowd had been going to. By the time they arrived at the pier, they were just in time to see several of the Pokemorphs who'd gone for the offer setting off in boats…and probably more alarming was Nastina…dressed in military garb and riding an honest to Arceus TANK.
"Where did she get that and why isn't she arrested because of it yet?" Ash couldn't help but ask as he looked at the military vehicle in bewilderment.
"Better yet, weren't most tanks decommissioned decades ago?" Brock added.
"She probably had it before they did." Misty noted dryly.
They didn't have long to think further on the tank, as already the chaos was starting, as boats were sunk or capsized, the Tentacool in the water very much NOT appreciating the efforts of the Pokemorphs, so much so that…
"That's…a LOT of Tentacool…" Ash couldn't help but gulp, Pikachu sweat dropping nervously as well, as judging by the red points of light which were probably the crystals on the heads of the Tentacool…this place had one BIG population of them.
However, as the Pokemorphs were quickly being overpowered, Nastina just glared at the sight, before taking out a walkie talkie. "Alright that's it! If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself!" she growled as she turned on the walkie talkie. "Send in the special package!" she ordered, right as a helicopter which was piloted by more of her speedo boys came flying in from…somewhere. However, as alarming as the helicopter was, what was MORE alarming, was what appeared to be strapped under it. Some kind of barrel or tank that had a label that showed a Tentacool with a big red X stamped on top of it.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Misty shouted in alarm, the three of them catching Nastina's attention.
"Oh, it's you three again," Nastina said, before waving off. "Don't bother me, I got a bunch of Tentacool to exterminate."
"Are you nuts?! You can't just drop something like that into the water!" Brock gasped.
"That'll hurt more than just the Tentacool, not to mention the Pokemorphs and Pokemon still in the water!" Ash gasped.
"I can and I'm about to!" Nastina said with a smirk as she was about to press a switch to drop the gunk onto the water, but before she could…the helicopter promptly exploded, sending her speedo boys flying till they were a twinkle in the air. Turns out the Tentacool didn't need to think hard as to what the helicopter was doing, and one didn't waste time in shooting what appeared to be an Aurora Beam, hitting the fuel line by chance and causing the explosion which launched the canister flying, opening it a bit…right as it landed on one particular Tentacool.
What happened next defied nature as the canister burst, but instead of flooding the area with the chemical, the tell-tale light of an evolution was seen…before the source of that light grew to well…Kaiju size. When the light subsided, what was left was what many would call the world's largest Tentacruel.
"That…that's impossible! Tentacruel can't grow that big!" Brock gasped.
"What have you done?!" Misty couldn't help but say in alarm, while even Nastina looked taken aback by this development.
Likewise the Tentacruel seemed just as confused as everyone, at first processing its sudden increase in size, and even looking at itself in confusion. But once it properly registered what had happened well…the glare it gave could probably have killed someone. It quickly made up its mind as to what it wanted to do with its newfound size, immediately setting its sights on the unfinished construction of the hotel, and without hesitation, plowed right into it, ripping it apart.
"This doesn't bode well…" Ash gulped, taking out Dexter to scan Tentacruel quickly.
"Tentacruel, the Jellyfish Pokemon. Tentacruel is a Water/Poison-type Pokemon native to the Kanto Region and is the Evolved Form of Tentacool. This Pokemon's powerful tentacles are usually kept short but can be extended to act as natural weapons, boasting strong force and poisonous stingers. This combined with their typically aggressive natures have earned this Pokemon species the nickname 'Gangster of the Sea'."
"And looks like that gang is coming for revenge," Brock gulped.
"Leave my hotel alone!" Nastina shouted, somehow still only caring about her hotel despite the very real danger she'd just put the entire town in and actually opened fire on the Tentacruel. However, its large size combined with its soft body made the tank shells just bounce off of it and fall harmlessly into the sea. The only thing she'd managed to do was attract its attention.
Tentacruel glared at her direction, before throwing a part of the hotel it had ripped off towards the land, people quickly scrambling to get away as it landed on the harbor area, followed by another which landed right on the amusement park that Nastina had built.
"You'll pay for that!" Nastina growled…before stopping short when she realized Tentacruel was now coming for the shore…and from the looks of it, it was using Surf, generating a tidal wave as it approached, carrying an army of Tentacool with it.
"Tentacruel, stop! If you keep this up it'll only make things worse!" Misty shouted, but Ash quickly grabbed her arm.
"Try and reason with them later! Find higher ground now!" he said urgently, right as the tidal wave hit, washing away anyone who was unfortunate enough to be too close still.
"Waaaaaggghhh!" was the shout from Ash, Misty, and Brock, while Pikachu held on for dear life as well, the three having been caught in the wave, fortunately not the main one, but they were still swept away and could very well have either hit something hard or drowned…if not for something stopping their momentum, and allowing them to grab on.
"We're saved!" Ash gasped.
"I don't think you should be saying that just yet," came a familiar voice, as the group looked and saw Team Rocket, though they looked…very confused.
"Anyone mind tellin us why a tidal wave came out of nowhere?" Meowth asked, looking around at the now flooded town.
"That's…a long story," Brock sighed. "Speaking of which…what are we actually…" he trailed off right as they realized what they were holding on to. It was a Gyarados… one with grey scales instead of blue, a white belly instead of the normal cream color, black whiskers next to his mouth, and black spikes going along the back along with a black forehead crest.
"Where'd you get a Gyarados?" Ash blinked, honestly surprised.
"Like him?" James grinned happily. "He just Evolved not too long ago while training along the shore. I got him on the SS Anne from a vendor that was carrying Magikarp from all over the world. Apparently he's from the waters around the Unova Region."
"Huh…I'm honestly impressed you managed to get a Magikarp to evolve so quickly," Misty blinked, before quickly shaking her head. "But more importantly, you wanted to know what caused this?" she said before pointing at the giant Tentacruel.
The Rocket Trio unsurprisingly shouted a bit in surprise. "Since when did Tentacruel get that big?!" Jessie gasped.
"And how did we not see it earlier?!" James added.
"Since crazy old ladies dump chemicals into the ocean, and it DID just get on shore," Brock said.
Any further conversation was halted when Tentacruel let out a loud bellow, and the Tentacool now flooding the town began attacking anyone and anything.
"That Tentacruel sounds REALLY mad!" Meowth gasped.
"Mad as in crazy or angry? And how bad are we talking here?" James gulped.
"Angry mad, and enough that they wanna flatten the city!" Meowth gulped.
"They can't! If they do that, it'll only make things worse!" Misty gasped.
"Looks like one way or another, we're gonna have to stop Tentacruel," Ash frowned.
"Gyarados, find us somewhere we can land first. I think we're about to go into battle," James said, Gyarados obeying as they soon found a section of building that hadn't been completely submerged, and as it so happened, other Pokemorphs and Pokemon who'd managed to reach it in time were using it as an evacuation point. Among the people there were also Ash's parents and Professor Oak.
"Ash! Is everyone alright?!" Delia gasped, she and Carmine having been frantically searching for their son among the people who'd managed to evacuate to higher ground.
"We're okay, but we gotta do something about the Tentacool and Tentacruel," Ash said.
"Can't say I like having to fight against Pokemon who are lashing out, but we have to stop them," Carmine frowned, before they quickly released their Pokemon who were either flyers or could swim in the water, or failing that, be carried by one of the fliers.
The 'battle team' that followed consisted of Pikachu riding on Pidgeotto's back, Bulbasaur being carried by Butterfree thanks to hanging on with his vines, while Zubat and Dragonite flew alongside them. Down in the water Starmie, Staryu, Goldeen, Squirtle, and Feraligatr were swimming along as fast as they could. Additionally, Gyarados was going along too, while on his back were more of Carmine's Pokemon, specifically an Accelgor and Slowking.
Back where the people were gathered, Carmine had also sent out his Nidoking and an Aegislash, less to join the fight, but more to act as extra defense in the event any of the rampaging Pokemon reached them.
Due to the distance between the fight and their Trainers, the only orders they were given were to stop the Tentacool and Tentacruel, so the Pokemon did that as well as they could manage. Pikachu and Pidgeotto weaved through attacks, Pidgeotto making sure they could get close enough for Pikachu to use Thundershock and hit a good number of the Tentacool, before Pidgeotto used her Whirlwind to send them flying back towards the ocean.
Likewise, the other Pokemon were aiming to more or less do the same, using their Moves to try and send the Tentacool back to the sea, be it pushing them away with Water Gun and Vine Whip in the case of Squirtle and Bulbasaur, or immobilizing them with Supersonic and Psybeam in the case of Zubat and Butterfree to allow the others to push them away. Additionally, Staryu, Starmie, and Goldeen had opted to directly push the Tentacool out. An endeavor that was further supported by Slowking and Accelgor, the former using their psychic abilities to send the Tentacool packing en mass, while Accelgor was catching and tossing Tentacool out as fast as they could.
However, as this was happening, Tentacruel didn't take kindly to this interference, especially not by other Pokemon and moved to stop their interference. However, when it swung its gigantic tentacle, Gyarados charged and rammed into Tentacruel, forcing it to stagger away a bit, while the tentacle that came down was caught by Feraligatr who grunted under the pressure, but managed to push the tentacle off.
Taking full advantage of the larger Pokemon holding off the Tentacruel as best as they could, the smaller Pokemon kept focusing on pushing the Tentacool out of the city, and so far they were doing well enough. It helped too that the waters were slowly receding back to the ocean.
As all this was happening, the Pokemorphs that were watching couldn't help but remain apprehensive if hopeful.
"Well… if anything this is really good to show that Pokemon can be really dangerous if you provoke them… hopefully people will use today as a learning experience." Brock said with a frown, looking out over the mostly destroyed city.
"Yeah, it'll probably stick for most people… you know, as long as they don't hear things in 'money'." Ash said in deadpan.
"You think if we give them Nastina, the Tentacool will accept her as a sacrifice and leave us alone?" they heard somebody in the background say, making them blink in surprise.
"Dark… but also really tempting." another person responded.
"Not gonna lie, if she weren't somewhere in the wreckage I'd probably start spreading that idea," a third commented.
"...well, Nastina's not going to have a good time when all's said and done," Professor Oak sweat dropped a bit.
"Can't say she doesn't deserve it though," Carmine sighed, focusing his attention on the battle. So far the Tentacool weren't too big an issue. The Tentacruel on the other hand…
A heavy tentacle lashed out, and this time Gyarados and Feraligatr were knocked back. Taking advantage of the two of them being dazed for a bit, Tentacruel lashed out with its tentacles again, sending several of the smaller Pokemon flying back. Fortunately, Accelgor and Slowking were fast to react and quickly helped get the smaller Pokemon to safety, while also using their Moves to distract Tentacruel, aiming to buy Feraligatr and Gyarados some time to recover.
Recover they did and quickly re-entered the fray, Gyarados firing a Water Pulse, which hit Tentacruel dead on while they were unaware, sending them reeling…and suddenly seeing stars as the view around them became a bit wonky.
Taking full advantage of the opening Gyarados had made, Feraligatr rushed forward, his body glowing as he delivered a Superpower fueled punch, sending Tentacruel skidding through the water…and smashing into a nearby building.
Tentacruel quickly recovered from its Confusion and glared at the Pokemon, before firing a Water Gun. Well, it was supposed to be a Water Gun, but with its size…it may as well have been a Hydro Pump.
Carmine's Pokemon and Gyarados had a moment to have a slight 'Oh shit' expression before they were blasted by the attack, pushing them back a bit. However, by then Pikachu and the other smaller Pokemon had recovered, though after a quick discussion, Pikachu and Pidgeotto were the only ones to remain fighting, the others got to a safe distance while checking for any remaining Tentacool.
Pidgeotto flew around Tentacruel, allowing Pikachu to pepper it with Thunderbolts, not really doing much damage despite his type advantage, but at the very least he was distracting Tentacruel enough for the larger Pokemon to shake off the sudden dousing, and were soon back in the fray.
Feraligatr and Gyarados continued to confront Tentacruel head on, using their ranged moves from a distance before closing the distance and striking hard with physical hits. Moves or otherwise.
At the same time, Slowking had managed to get some distance and was now levitating some of the debris to throw at Tentacruel, the jellyfish growling in anger as it tried to stop the attacks with its tentacles, but Slowking kept adding the pressure.
Topping it off, Accelgor was jumping from building to building, using them as a springboard to attack Tentacruel from various angles, the Pokemon doing their best to wear Tentacruel down.
Back with the Pokemorphs, despite the hard battle, the fact that the Pokemon were managing to keep the attackers at bay filled many of them with hope.
"Keep it up Gyarados!" James shouted as loudly as he could, even though he doubted his new Pokemon heard him.
"Give him everything you got Pikachu!" Ash added in.
And of course, there were plenty of other cheers from the rest of the crowd.
However, it seemed they were in fact heard…not just by the Pokemon fighting for them but also by Tentacruel that glared in their direction, before looking like it was charging up a Water Gun again. The Pokemon saw that and immediately braced or prepared to evade…only for Tentacruel to aim upward and fire.
"Uh…what's that supposed to do?" Ash blinked when he saw that.
"That is a rather strange move, but I don't think it'd do it for no reason," Delia frowned.
Oak also frowned…until he noticed the water coming back down, and his eyes widened. "Oh no! That Tentacruel must have Rain Dish!" he gasped.
"But that's the Ability that heals a Pokemon when they're hit by rain!" Misty gasped, as they all realized Tentacruel had just made improvised rain for itself.
Tentacruel immediately looked healthier again, and lashed out with its tentacles, either knocking the Pokemon back, or at least forcing them to back away, before it set its sights on where the Pokemorphs were gathered, and with a glare, it suddenly enveloped itself in a dark purple substance, before that substance was fired at high power straight for the Pokemorphs, a Sludge Wave aimed right at them.
"Look out!" Brock said, as everyone scrambled to try and find cover, with any Steel Type Pokemorphs trying to get to the front to prevent anybody else from being poisoned.
Thankfully, it ended up being unneeded.
"Aegislash, King's Shield! Nidoking, brace him!" Carmine shouted, Aegislash immediately getting in front of everyone while Nidoking held him from behind, while Aegislash's shield glowed brightly and a glowing blue barrier formed around it and expanded, forming a beehive barrier which stopped the Sludge Wave, but the force pushed Nidoking back a bit, the large Pokemon grunting as he tried to support his teammate. Suddenly he felt several hands on his back, revealing to be Ash, Brock, Carmine, even Delia and Professor Oak supporting him.
"Keep it up you two! We'll help!" Carmine grunted as they all managed to stop the force of the Sludge Wave. The attack lasted a few minutes, before eventually stopping, leaving the sludge to drop back down, while Nidoking panted a bit, and even Aegislash looked a bit winded from the effort.
"You both okay?" Ash asked, worried for his father's Pokemon, but both Pokemon gave a thumbs up.
"This is getting out of hand," Carmine frowned, looking to where the Pokemon were once again trying to hold down Tentacruel, but the stubborn jellyfish continued to fight. "This has to stop soon."
"But how can we stop it? Everyone's fighting and that Tentacruel just isn't giving up," Brock frowned.
Misty looked at the battle, looking a bit sad, before without anyone's notice, she backed away and soon dove into the water while everyone was distracted.
Back with the others, Carmine frowned at the rampaging Tentacruel. "You're going to join in yourself, aren't you?" Delia asked with a worried expression.
"Wait, what?" Brock gasped. "Mr. Ketchum, that's way too reckless!"
"I know that, but I can't just sit here and let the Pokemon do all the work with how bad things are going," Carmine frowned as he dug through his pocket and pulled out a small orb roughly the size of a large marble colored a deep orange with a red and blue design inside which somewhat resembled a helix of sorts.
"That's your Lucarionite!" Ash gasped. "Dad, are you going to-?"
"Yes. It's our best bet right now," Carmine nodded.
"Lucarionite? Wait, you can use a Mega Stone?!" Brock gasped. Mega Stones were an odd phenomenon that would facilitate Mega Evolution. However, for the most part, only Pokemon could use them, due to the fact the Trainer would help support the Evolution via a Keystone. For a Pokemorph…well…Keystones didn't work in trying to Mega Evolve another Pokemorph, so generally speaking it was useless for a Pokemorph to have a Mega Stone of their own species. However, he HAD heard that SOME Pokemorphs were able to use them. And from the looks of it, Carmine Ketchum was one such Pokemorph.
"Be careful, okay?" Delia sighed after a moment, clearly worried, but she knew she couldn't stop him.
"Don't worry, I will," Carmine smiled before he stepped forward and firmly gripped the Mega Stone. Closing his eyes briefly he focused and when he opened them again, they glowed a bright blue, as the Mega Stone reacted. The Stone glowed brightly and released tendrils of energy that flowed into him as his body turned a rainbow color of energy as his body shifted and even grew a little while the stone was soon absorbed into him. When the light subsided, it revealed Carmine, now a Mega Lucario Pokemorph. The fur at the ends of his arms and legs had become crimson while gaining additional spikes, while his aura-sensing appendages had grown longer and gained crimson tips. His tail had become covered in long cream fur, while on his body and face he'd developed black markings. Topping it off, his hair had inexplicably grown longer to roughly shoulder length, but remained spiky and even seemed to spike upwards.
Carmine took a moment to feel the energy and keep it under control before he looked at his family and friends, before giving them a small nod and leaping forward, easily covering a great distance and before long, he'd entered the fray. Charging up Aura into his right fist, he went straight for Tentacruel's side. "Hey Tentacruel, if you want to deal with Pokemorphs so badly, try dealing with me!" he shouted, causing Tentacruel to turn, just in time to take an aura charged punch right between the eyes.
At first Carmine's punch didn't seem to have an effect, the punch just sinking into Tentacruel's body, but at the last moment when he felt a resistance, he let loose the force of the aura inside the punch, creating an additional force akin to firing a cannon at point blank that sent Tentacruel skidding backwards.
Tentacruel was understandably surprised…as were all of the Pokemon that DIDN'T belong to Carmine. However, Carmine didn't stop as he quickly found some footing and used it to launch himself forward, slamming his hands together and creating a Bone Rush staff which he twirled as he reached Tentacruel again and started rapidly stabbing at the giant Pokemon, landing blow after blow in a single spot without giving Tentacruel's body time to fully rebound from the strikes, causing Tentacruel to reel back.
However, Tentacruel wasn't about to give up so easily. Recovering quickly, it swung its tentacle, forcing Carmine to block, breaking the Bone Rush and sending him flying back, but he quickly righted himself and landed on the wall of a building, pausing briefly to set his target and quickly jumped off, heading straight for Tentacruel. The giant Pokemon saw him coming, and fired a Water Gun, aiming to hit the Mega Lucario head on.
Pikachu let out a shout of alarm, but Feralligatr held a claw up and shook his head. He knew what his Trainer was planning.
True enough, Carmine adjusted his center of gravity and flipped over the attack, while at the same moment taking a deep breath, and charging his aura, plunged his hand into the stream of water mid-flip, the aura spread through the water, and to everyone's shock, a portion of the water was being pulled along by the aura, and before Tentacruel could process what was going on, it took a massive fist of water to the face, before Carmine focused his aura, and let loose another blast, pushing the water forward and proceeding to hit Tentacruel with basically the force of its own attack, sending it crashing into and THROUGH a nearby building before stopping as it hit a second one after that.
The crowd of Pokemorphs who didn't know what Carmine was capable of…just blinked, some wondering if they were seeing this right. "Well…there goes the neighborhood," one of them, a Wobuffet, tried to joke.
The response they got was being smacked upside the head, making him wobble a bit.
Tentacruel groaned as it tried to get up, but the battle so far had started to take its toll…and being smashed through buildings wasn't helping. "That's enough, Tentacruel! You've made your point!" Carmine shouted, landing on some of the wreckage, starting to look a little winded. Using Mega Evolution wasn't an easy task after all. Not to mention how much Aura he'd used to pull off those moves. Either way, he wanted to end this fight soon, and he'd prefer to do so with dialogue now that Tentacruel looked sufficiently…tenderized.
Tentacruel glared at him, and soon got up, clearly intending to fight again.
"So it's coming to this, then?" Carmine frowned, and gathered all the aura he had left, creating an Aura Sphere that even from that distance, everyone watching knew it was strong. He would have fired it too, but…
"Please stop!" came Misty's voice, as the Vaporeon had taken advantage of the chaos to get on to a nearby building that was still relatively intact, close enough that she could catch their attention. "Please stop Tentacruel, we understand now!" she shouted. "It was wrong of us to try and take your homes away from you, but doing this won't solve anything!" she said.
"She's right," Carmine said. "We get it, you are rightfully angry, but what you're doing is just going to make things worse for everyone involved," he said, powering down the Aura Sphere…even if he was ready to make a move if Tentacruel were to become hostile again.
"But even so, we understand that we were wrong. After all this, nobody is going to forget the mistake of trying to force our way into the homes of Pokemon!" Misty said. "So please, enough of this, I'm begging you!" Misty shouted.
Horsea likewise came out of the water, the small Pokemon having been watching the whole fight sadly and started trying to reason with Tentacruel as well.
Tentacruel looked at them for a moment, before looking towards the Pokemorphs, all of which had solemn expressions, the understanding that though the Tentacool took it too far…they were in a way the ones who started this all. Of course Tentacruel also noted the Pokemon and Mega Evolved Pokemorph who were clearly still ready to fight if need be and ultimately made its decision, speaking in a booming voice.
"Uh…translation?" Jessie asked.
"Tentacruel says that they'll accept this this time, but if anything like this happens again, they won't stop," Meowth translated.
"After all this, you'd have to be an idiot to still want to do that again," Ash frowned.
Right on cue…
"You ain't getting away with what you've done THAT easily!" came Nastina's voice, as she'd pulled out a rifle and started opening fire on Tentacruel with… zero effect.
Tentacruel just glared at her in an expression that was less angry and more…annoyed than anything, before slamming her with one of its tentacles, sending her flying into the air before she was a twinkle in the sky.
XXXX
Meanwhile, on the mainland…
"I want an arrest warrant for one Nastina," Officer Jenny said with a frown. "Based on reports from Professor Oak, it seems she's been involved in illegal destruction of Pokemon Habitats, and is the key instigator of the current situation in Porta Vista," she frowned. However, before the other officers could get started on that task, a distance screaming was heard…before something crashed right through the roof and into one of the cells of the jail.
Officer Jenny looked confused, and turned to the source…and found Nastina in the jail cell…on top of Brutella, both cousins looking swirly eyed from the sudden impact.
"...cancel that arrest warrant, we've gotten our perp."
XXXX
A short while later saw the town no longer flooded, and the Tentacool leaving back into the sea. Though the town would need some serious repairs, nobody wanted to make a major fuss since as it was, it could have been much worse.
Among the leaving Pokemon was Tentacruel, now back to the normal size of his species. It turns out the effects of the chemical could be reversed by the effects of Heal Pulse, which Carmine could provide, especially while he was a Mega Lucario. Of course, the effort proved a bit much, and why he was back to being a Lucario, and leaning on the shoulders of Professor Oak and Delia.
"I think you overdid it again, dear," Delia chuckled.
"Yeah…don't want to do something like that again too soon," Carmine sighed.
"I'm just glad everything turned out well enough," Oak sighed.
"Let's just hope the world learns from this and never tries anything like this again," Misty frowned.
"I'm sure they will," Oak nodded. "More importantly, don't you three have a ferry to catch?"
There was a pause, as the three of them turned to see the ferry that was already starting to accept passengers.
"Ah! We totally forgot!" Ash gasped, as he, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu started running for it. "Thanks for everything!" he shouted as they ran.
"We'll be sure to call when we get to the mainland!" Misty added.
"And thanks for the recipes too, I'll be sure to let you know how far I go with them!" Brock added.
"Take care everyone!" the three adults smiled as they watched the young Trainer-Fighters board the ferry, just in time for it to leave…
XXXX
And there we go, the Tentacruel incident, but with several changes, modded reactions, and a big reveal for lore. Yes, Pokemorphs can also use Mega Stones, but only a small number of them can do so. To most Mega Stones are for Pokemon only as they can't support a Mega Evolution by themselves, though as seen with Carmine, doing so can really tire him out. With this we can move forward towards Saffron City, and with it, the next Gym.
Additionally, I'm bringing back Retold Files after how long having issues making them. Lol
File No. 9: Military
The military in the world has become less of a focus ever since the last major conflict that happened roughly 50 years before the start of the story. Ever since then, the world has been at peace with the Military of every Region being downsized. Soldiers are still trained and the like just in case, but they tend to see more action being deployed to handle situations that are beyond what the typical Police Force is able to handle, making them a step above a SWAT Team. Additionally most military hardware was decommissioned, though much like the infantry, it still exists just in case, as its been kept in storage.
Generally nowadays military hardware consists more of information and surveillance technology, while soldiers are given the full training yet tend to end up going their whole careers only using non-lethal means as the world in general has no real interest or intention of ever sparking a conflict that would lead to war ever again. Even so, each Region is hardly defenseless in the event someone were to break the peace.
