Chapter 28: An UnCool Encounter

"No, you cannot have maternity leave."

-"Rat Rattata?"

"Well for one thing, IT'S MY KID, NOT YOURS!" The newborn Lapras bobs along beside her dad, playing with a bath toy someone found in the salvage pile. Having hatched only a few days ago, she was bright and full of energy. The pride of The Cooler Crew and apple of her daddy's squishy eye.

"Now quit trying to get out of paying back your dues! You're setting a bad example for the baby!"

*grumbles in criminal*

Seeing a lul in the action, Jessie takes a rare quiet moment to think about the action that had happened just hours before.

'We saw a scout from The Warband today. While normally I would be out there myself keeping an eye on things, the crew want me here, keeping the base locked down. More importantly, keeping these Rockets from getting any bright ideas. They always seem to behave themselves better when I'm around. Wonder why.'

-"Do you think we can make it if we run into the forest?"

And like that, the quiet moment passes, as quickly as it came.

-"Shut your fucking mouth! Did you see what they did to the last guy who tried? He-" But that particular grunt didn't get to finish his thought as a Chansey dragged his unconscious body into the Pokecenter. You'd think that by now they would have learned to abide by Jessie's "no swearing" rule by now.

-"Sorry Ms. Tentacool! We'll behave!"

"That's Mr. Tentacool!"

-"Eeeek! Forgive us!" The lot go into overdrive, sweating and scrambling to perform their task, lest the angry mom unleash another unseen attack.

"Hmph, I could do with less misgendering around here, but I like the hustle."

-"Oct-Octillery?"

"Wh- You to, Loafy? I swear, do I need to draw one of those circle-arrow things on my head or something? I'm obviously a man!"

-"Till?"

"...No. I was born a man."

-"Tillery?"

"Really really."

-"Oct-illery." The octopus puts a hand to his head in shock.

"Hey Loafy, you've always told it to me straight. What is it with people always getting my gender wrong? I mean, if it happened once or twice I'd get it. And with this kid here, I do give off a "motherly" vibe and all, but for it to happen so often is weird."

-"Oct... Octillery till."

"...Huh. I did not consider that."

An alarm bell begins ringing and scouting birds race onto the scene. The Rocket grunts look around in confusion, but a motion from their handlers lets them know to head to the worker's barracks for the moment.

"Status report!"

Dexter drops down in front of him with a report from the front.

"I see, it's time then... Everyone! Man your stations, that scout wasn't alone! We've trained for this moment for over a month now, so you all know what to do. Dex, I want you to contact Emperor and get the evacuation started. Anyone who can't travel over land should swim up river and hide out until we give the okay to return."

-"Pidgey!" *salute*

The tiny Lapras swimming at her parent's side looks up, eyes aglow with fear.

"Don't worry, baby. Daddy just has to go make sure everyone stays safe. Stay with uncle Spring until someone comes to get you, okay?"

The newborn gives a tiny squeal of displeasure, but allows herself to be towed away by her extended family.

"I love you... I'm gonna make sure you can swim safely in these waters, I promise."

-"Oct."

"Right, call an emergency meeting. The first of many."

'The first skirmish of this turf war happened without anyone even realizing it until hours after it had happened. It seemed like a common battle at first. A pair of pokemon, Shuckle, fishing by The Reef who got a little overzealous.

It was not until they managed to make a Remoraid faint using Toxic and then continued attacking, that we realized something was terribly wrong.'

'Thankfully a Mantine was in the area watching the battle and was able to evacuate the fainted pokemon before their continuous attacks managed to inflict fatal wounds.'

'Then came the Squirtle.'

'A legion of turtles swarmed the Mantine from the rocks! How they managed to penetrate so deeply into our territory, we are still uncertain. But one thing was clear, even from this small skirmish, it was clear that our forces were entirely outnumbered.'

'The Mantine fled, not out to open sea like The Warband had expected, but deep into The Reef where our allies were stationed. Clearly not anticipating any form of resistance, The Warband's pokemon failed to capture their targets and were repelled.'

'We managed to capture a few of their members and were surprised to see just how young these aggressive Squirtle were. Most of them were barely a few months old! Perhaps because of this, we opted to take a more diplomatic approach to the situation.'

'The crying hatchlings didn't oppose our attempts at peace, thankfully...'

"Great Ho-oh, I feel like an ass picking on these kids. Let's just pair them up with some parents and their kids as a "Temporary foster-care" initiative! All in favor?"

Unanimous agreement from the assembled council of Emperor, Aurum, Diver, Chansey, and some of the land-based pokemon's pack leaders.

"Good. Once they're settled in, we can start asking them questions about their own parents. Especially about what kind of monsters would send kids out to fight their battles!"

-"Karp? Karp Magi."

"Agreed. I'll leave the... do we have to call it interrogation? Augh, I leave talking to the kids to you. Have Chansey on hand to tend to any medical or psychological issues they might have. Something tells me there's plenty wrong with how they were raised."

Both nod in reply. Diver raises a fin.

-"Goldeen?"

"We don't have much option other than to prepare ourselves. We don't know where their main forces are or where they might strike next. At least that 'was' the plan until about 10 minutes ago."

-"Gol?"

"Okay, come on in!"

...*cough*

"HEY PICHU! THAT'S THE SIGNAL!"

-"Pi-Pichu!"

-"Huh? Oh, okay. Sorry, still can't quite understand Tenta-speak. I rely a lot on body language." 'The human enters our secret meeting place underneath the docks. A little flap of fabric provides some much needed privacy... Hey! It does the job and it looks inconspicuous with all the construction work going on! What more do you want?'

*sigh* "As you can see from their late introduction, Riley and Pichu of the Pokemon Rangers have finally gotten back. This means we have a means of striking back at The Warband!"

-"Right um, didn't quite catch all of that. But I assume you're excited I'm back! You're looking forward to what news I brought, right? Well good news, we have a way to change you back into a human!"