Pokémon Trainer Hero
Chapter 74: Meeting and Collaboration
After everything that went down in the Support Department, Gar makes his way to Nezu's office. Today wasn't just him getting upgrades, though that was a plus, but about something that he and Nezu had been planning for a while now. Something that would hopefully set things in their favor once again. Once he makes it to the door he knocks and hears the principal grant him access. Inside he sees the small animal sitting at his desk and collecting some papers into a pile.
He sees the young man and says, "Ah, Garfield you're finally here. Are you ready for the meeting?"
Gar gives a complacent sigh and says, "No, but let's do it anyway."
"That's the spirit!", Nezu replies jovially.
He then hopes off his desk with the stack of papers and walks out of his office with Gar at his heels. As they walk to the meeting room office, Gar becomes visually anxious and Nezu sees this.
"Nervous?", Nezu inquires.
Gar sighs while waving his hand and telling him, "No no. Nothing like that. I'm just worried about what'll happen if they refuse."
Nezu shrugs and replies nonchalantly, "Well then I suppose that's on them."
"Good point.", Gar agrees while rubbing the back of his head.
After another few minutes of walking, the two of them finally reach the meeting office. Gar knocks and then opens the door, allowing the animal to walk in first. Once he's inside he sees that Detective Tsukauchi and Chief Tsuragamae were already sitting down in the office waiting for them with coffees in hand. Both men watched as Nezu hopped onto an open seat and placed the papers next to him while Gar took a seat beside him. Nezu sitting across from the Police Chief and Gar sitting across from the head Detective.
"Gentleman, I hope we didn't keep you waiting long?", Nezu apologetically asked them while sorting his papers.
"It's fine, we just got here. Woof.", Chief Tsuragamae assured him while taking a sip from his cup.
"Hey Tsukauchi.", Gar nonchalantly greeted the detective with a wave.
"Hi, Garfield. Oh! Before I forget.", he greeted back while reaching into his coat and putting a Pokeball on the table, saying, "Here's your Begal Pokemon."
Gar sighs at his mispronunciation, and corrects him, saying irritated, "Smeargle."
"Chief, why don't you and I talk about the finer details of our discussion.", Nezu grabs the dog man's attention.
"Very well. Woof.", Tsuragamae agrees.
The two of them went into a tirade of discussions and topics that were just too much to process or even understand for the other two people present. So they just awkwardly and empty-headedly looked on with neutral gazes at them as they spoke in another language.
Feeling out of place with their discussion, Tsukauchi turned to Gar and asked him, "While they talk about the boring bit, care to explain the general bits of this meeting? Like what exactly is it that you two wanted to discuss with us?"
Gar mindlessly picks at his nose and nonchalantly tells him, "Oh basically we wanted the Police to join forces and work with Pokemon."
Tsukauchi's eyes widen at this and he asks back in disbelief, "Are you joking?"
"Dead serious, 100%.", Gar replies with a neutral yet calm flow in his tone.
"I'm guessing it has something to do with what you saw happening at the warehouse?", the Detective asked with a bit of shame in his tone while scratching the side of his head.
Gar sighed while flicking away his booger and told him with an understanding tone, "Tsukauchi, I'm not trying to insult you or the brave men and women who work in the field, but what happened there was just plain embarrassing and frightening! If those goons had any idea what they were doing, that little scene would have become a slaughter-fest! You need help."
Tsukauchi sighs and admits, "I can't disagree with you there. It's just that-."
Gar cuts him off with his hand and finishes it off, "A lot of people in the Department have very wounded pride and delicate egos and don't want hand-holding since their work, and by extension themselves, are thought of as secondary to actual heroes and more of a glorified cleanup crew, yes?"
Tsukauchi gives another stressed sigh again and says, "It's just…gonna be hard to get everyone on board."
Gar puts a hand on the man's shoulder and tells him comfortingly, "Listen Tsukauchi, I get it. But the Police Department won't be able to survive anything like that again! If nothing changes, then the Police will become nothing more than glorified cannon fodder! I don't want to see that any more than you do. This world is gonna change drastically, and if others don't change, adapt, or evolve then things will just be even worse.", Tsukauchi just shrinks down at the truth of his words, but Gar follows it up and tells him, "Besides that, if anything it'll put the ball in our court in this war with Bayo and make you guys look far less secondary. I have the knowledge and skills to teach you guys all you need to know about training Pokemon! Those goons probably just commanded their Pokemon to attack and let them do as they pleased while they ran off. Nothing else, they don't know anything, which is why we should capitalize on this while we can!"
Tsukauchi smiles a bit at this recollection but still says with uneasiness in his throat, "It won't be easy. So many things involved that will no doubt make the change longer."
"That's why we better start now.", Gar exclaimed in a firm tone while slamming a fist on the table.
Tsukauchi takes a long sip from his coffee, sighs, then rubs his face in stress admitting, "It all seems like so much, and so quickly too. Just yesterday I was investigating a drug cartel, and now I got terrorists with super-powered animals making black market deals. Where the hell is this world going?"
Gar inwardly sighs at the man's turbulence, and says with a firm yet reassuring tone, "Look Tsukauchi, the bottom line is I want to help you guys."
Tsukauchi smiled at the young man and before their conversation could continue, another voice cut in and stated, "I'm honestly surprised. Woof."
Both men looked over to see that their superiors were done talking and now looking at them as they spoke. With a bit of embarrassment in his tone, Gar muddled out, "Oh…I didn't realize you two had finished up already."
"We just started, but I couldn't help but overhear you two. Woof. I thought you'd be against it after what happened before. Woof.", Chief Tsuragamae admitted while scratching his ear.
Gar raised an eyebrow and stated back, "If you're saying that I'm still holding a grudge of ill will against you guys for basically abducting me and my friend in broad daylight and manhandling us after an extraneously stressful few days into a situation we had no prior knowledge about, then no. I'm angry, sure, but we have bigger Magikarp to fry than hold petty annoyances.", a sense of relief washed over the two men, as if that was their worst fear. But both of their butt cheeks clenched back up as he followed up saying, "But for future reference, regarding anything Pokemon crime related, please just call me. You have my phone number for a reason. Use it!"
"Well be sure to not make any repeats of that in the future. Woof.", Chief Tsuragamae apologetically told him with a slight head bow.
"But this brings up something more pressing.", Detective Tsukauchi blurted out, grabbing all their eyes to him. "Even after we settle the details and come up with a plan, budget, and training program, what about the key component to all this?", he asked somewhat vaguely.
"What are you talking about, Tsukauchi? Woof.", the Police Chief asked him.
The Detective gave a bit of an annoyed sigh, seeing as it was obvious, and told all of their curious faces, "I'm talking about Pokemon. Even after everything goes through and is made, the Police forces all around Japan are gonna need Pokemon. Even after that raid on the illegal Pokemon, it is still not enough! Where are we gonna get a force as large as the Police force?"
Nezu gave a small chuckle and told him, "Fret not Detective, we have that part all taken care of. After all, where do you think all those Pokemon from Team Rocket's failed invasion went? We have plenty of Pokemon to at least start with. I have a feeling we'll be coming across more confiscated Pokemon in the future."
Gar visibly shuddered and added in, "And I shudder at that fact."
"We'll win against Bayo, don't you worry, Garfield.", Nezu assured him.
The young man sighs out his anxiety and replies, "That's exactly why I'm worried."
"Speaking of worries, shouldn't we be worried about the Government? Woof. I don't know much, but I hear that you and they don't get along very well. Woof.", Chief Tsuragamae inquiries.
"Well you're not wrong there, we do butt heads….a lot.", Gar admits while rubbing the back of his head and sweat dropping, only to follow up with, "But you guys shouldn't have to worry."
The two men of the law looked at the young man with confusion on their faces, until the Principal spoke up and informed them, "Garfield is right. Although the Police Forces are a part of the Government, you're underlooked by the many strict hero regulations. You have far more freedom to do as you wish, especially in an oncoming crisis."
"Plus this isn't some kind of hostile uprooting of the department as a whole, just adding something to it.", Gar adds in for reinforcement.
Chief Tsuragamae rubs his head while taking another sip from his cup and begrudgingly agreeing, "I suppose you're right. We could get away with something like this without having to go through the full chain of commands. Woof. Especially if a disaster is on the horizon. Woof."
Nezu then straightens his tie and exclaims to the small group, "Well then, without all those pressures laid to rest, shall we continue gentlemen? We have much to discuss to make sure everyone is satisfied."
To which all the men present in the room not of their heads and of headfirst into their discussion. It was true what Gar had said, The world was changing and changing quickly. They had to adapt or die, there was no in-between. Evolution was their only hope for success, and evolving meant branching off into areas that are both unknown and terrifying.
Hey guys hoped you liked this chapter, now the ball will be rolling again in terms of story, and things are gonna roll fast! The next chapter something earth shattering will happen. Something I said wouldn't happened but decided to retract on it. Also something funny and rare happened on the last chapter, I had the same number of reviews, followers, and Favorites! 372 to be precise. So I hope ya'll can be patient with me, since I got a life and all. Anyhow, enjoy and Plus Ultra.