Chapter 29: Keep a Cool Head

"There's a time and a place for everything, BUT NOT NOW, RILEY!" But it was too late. The meeting erupts into chaos! Everyone who didn't know Jessie's secret flies into a panic! Some more literally than others.

-"I-I'm sorry! I really thought that's what you wanted to ask me about! Was it not?"

-"Pidgeotto! Pidgeotto! Pidgeoooootto!"

"Take it easy, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon! Maybe after a while, but-"

-"Tenta-tentacool! Cool cool, cool Tentacool. Tenta-a-a-a!"

"Oh hey, welcome b-"

-"Tent. Ten ten Tentacool. Tenta? Tentacool!"

"Welcome back, Chatty. We-"

-"Tenta! Tentacool-cool. Tentacool~ Tenta! Tent-" Jessie used Wrap!

"We'd all like to hear about your time on land AFTER the meeting!" The Tentacool is flung out of the makeshift tent, landing with a splash near a boat where several other pokemon were clearly listening in on the meeting.

"Uh, h-hey everyone. Don't suppose you're all here to hear all about Chatty's time on land? Anyone?"

-"Pidgeo! Ott-oooo!"

"N-no, I'm not ignoring you! Look, everyone is just talking at once! Let's all calm down and-"

-"Should I come back later?"

"SIT DOWN!"

-"Yes mam!"

-"Magikarp?"

"Still a man, Aurum!"

-"Mag..."

-"Pidgeeee!"

-"Seaking!"

-"Pichu?"

"Will everyone stop talking?! And no, please don't start fighting in here! This pier is still undergoing renovations!"

-"So anyway, just putting it out there, you can return to being human anytime. We just need you to come down to the association for a few months while we work things out. We're calling in an expert who's flying in from Sinnoh. We can leave right away if you like!"

-"Pid-ge-otto!"

-"Furret?"

"Wh- I- I can't just... Yes, eventually I may go with them and become human again. But like I keep trying to say, I'm not leaving immediately."

-"Fur." *nods understandingly*

-"Pid-"

-"Sea-" A horn attack sends the furious bird up and through the bottom of the docks.

-"-king!"

"...Let's all take five. Meeting adjourned." 'The pier, the sheet separating the meeting place from prying eyes, my dignity, they all come crashing down around me.'

'We had to cancel the meeting pretty quickly after that little outburst. Aside from my inner circle, most pokemon didn't know about my situation. That, and they didn't consider their leader would ever leave them to become a human. It's... it's a lot. We had to spend a long while calming down the crowds who overheard everything. Even longer trying to keep them from spreading rumors before we could properly explain everything... we failed at that last part.'

'Not helping the fact at all is the fact that Riley will not be taking part in our operation, like I had hoped. I took some time to explain everything to them properly once things calmed down a little, but it seems like he's not permitted to just go off to fight battles for wild pokemon. Even one that was once a human. We need genuine proof that The Warband is disturbing nature, more than the accounts of one or two pokemon, or this will just be treated as another turf battle.'

'Worse, if he finds that "we" are the ones disturbing nature, he could be called on to stop us instead... I guess since I'm technically human, all the work I'm doing for everyone around here could be seen as tampering with the natural order. Tipping the balance in an unhealthy direction and all that.'

'I don't like it, but with war on the horizon, I need to stay even further from the front lines, lest I drag everyone in The Cooler Crew down with me...'

'Which brings me to our main problem. Do I even want to go back to being just a normal human?'

'The answer is yes! Of course I want to be human again! I can't be a pokemon trainer when I'm a pokemon! Traveling across the land and searching far and wide is pretty hard when you've got no legs, not even considering the rest of how that song goes.'

'But can I afford to leave? Now? Everything is going tits up since Riley dropped that massive bomb on our meeting. The land groups' leaders are in a tizzy trying to keep things under control. Pidgeotto's screeching could be heard by pretty much everyone in the camp, so I guess my secret's out. No going back to being just an average, if slightly small, Tentacool. Everyone is worried I'll leave when they need me most.'

'I can't. Even if I came back as a human, a human isn't what this group needs. It's a leader. A leader who understands them. A leader who knoWS HOW TO SPEAK POKEMON! Even this guy can't read the room when everyone is saying their own names all at once! What hope would I have?'

'And then there's baby Lapras... I don't want to leave her alone. I don't want to be her trainer, I want to be her father. She needs one right about now... She needs me, as a Tentacool.'

-"Jessie?"

"Oh, yeah. You're still here. Look, the meeting is gonna take a little longer to get back together. There's rioting and-"

-"I'm sorry."

"?"

-"It looks like I ruined everything just now. I was so excited to help you regain your humanity that I completely forgot to care for any of the other pokemon. Of course they're upset you'd be leaving! The pokemon in this area are suffering from both this disaster and the Tentacruel attack. I want to help you first, but that's not what I should be doing. I'm a ranger! I have to look out for the health and well being of wild pokemon above all else! I should have made them my primary concern."

-"I made a mistake, Jessie, and I plan to correct it." He takes out his Ranger Styler and pulls up some files.

-"Take a look, it's data on the migration of a bunch of turtle pokemon we noticed. It's not that much different from the Squirtle and Wartortle's migration paths, but we've noticed a lot more species than just those this time."

"Why are you showing me this? You can't fight our battles for us, right?"

-"I can't fight for you. But I can do this much. As long as you yourself don't go, we can treat this as just another wild pokemon thing. Just... keep a low profile until our specialist can get here. I'll need to take you in when that happens, I can only hold off the association for so long. And-"

"And I might actually be a danger to everyone? Upsetting the balance like you suspect?"

He doesn't reply.

"...I see." Jessie pumps up his body to full height.

"Well, no sense in moping around! If I'm not going to be a pokemon for much longer, I'm at least going to make the most of it!"

-"Jessie, I-"

"Don't worry about it! Here, help me get things under control. You've got that Styler, right? You can use that to convey your feelings to a pokemon you catch with it. Well, a lot of pokemon around here are panicking and I could really use the help calming everyone down. You up for the mission, ranger boy?"

-"Pichu pi!"

-"Heh, you're right. Okay, Jessie, you got it! I'll calm them down and you can explain things!"

'I'm not going to be a Tentacool forever. But I'll do what I can while I am. It's the least I could do for my new family.'