Chapter 38: My Cool Friends

"My name is Emperor. It's a name that doesn't suit me quite as well as it did when I first got it, but the small fry are already calling me Grampy Emperor, or as close to that as they can get with their squeaky voices. So for better or worse, it seems "Emperor" is a name I will be keeping for the time being."

"I used to be the leader of a small group of Goldeen, back before the brat came. It was a tight knit group, or so we liked to believe. In truth, members of our school were free to come and go as they pleased, and go they did. Warmer waters, predators, greener kelp, and the occasional trainer. We had many reasons to leave the shallows. Too few to stay together other than safety or being close to our seasonal breeding grounds. Ah, but I suppose nobody wants to hear an old cod rambling about his time in the breeding grounds. I certainly didn't, back when my father tried to tell me! Har!"

"Ah, father. I lost him and mother back when the Rockets came. Seaking and Goldeen horns were some new human fad, back before they moved on to Slowpoke tails. I have no idea how they harvest those these days, but I know that to harvest our horns means to kill the fish. Even if you leave them alive, a Goldeen with no horn is easy prey! Not that those thugs had any intention of leaving anyone alive after their harvest."

"I was small enough to hide beneath my mother's fin those days. Truth be told, I hid there for many days after the slaughter. It was a hard few weeks until I was found by some wandering group that happened along by chance. I lived with them from then on. And even though the members all change frequently, I think I still protect my family, just as the then leader did for me. He was a good ol fish...
Well, those days are behind me! Things are nice and crowded these days. Say what you will about the punk, he knows people. Good folk flock to people like that, sure enough I did! And here I thought I was looking out for some lost, runty Tentacool that wandered too far from it's group. Har! The boy sure proved this sea salt wrong!"

"I do a lot more work these days. And I rarely go to bed without any aches, though that may just be age creeping up on me. But I'm happy. The lad's done good. Yeah, the lad's done good."

*nom* ...

*nom* ...

"Hm? Oh, I'm Loafy."

*nom* ...

"About myself? Well, I like eating."

*nom* ...

"More? Oh, okay. I like sharing meals with people. People are happy when they're eating. Eating means things are going well. You have enough."

*nom* ...

"What I mean? It means people aren't angry. Aren't worried about where their next meal is coming from. Or if they can win their next fight. They're just happy to have what is here, now."

"Not everyone is so lucky."

*nom* ...

"The people here are nice. They share what they have. Don't hold back food, even to enemies. Everyone gets to eat, even if you're not useful. I like this place. I like these people. I want to fight for Jessie, even if I don't like fighting."

*nom* ...

"Say, do you want some food?"

"What's MY favorite thing about the boss? Well, he's dependable and likes helping out anyone in need, and he isn't at all worried about bigger, stronger pokemon. Why just the other day he battled against a pokemon more than ten times his size! It was an epic worth putting to memory, let me tell you. The day was sunny, waves broke lazily on the shore when all of a sudden-"

The chatty Tentacool continues his story long after you stopped paying attention. You didn't even intend to interview this one today!

*harrumph*

"The human. Yes, I'm aware of him. Thinking he runs the place. Thinking he can just make off with someone's chick like she isn't someone's daughter. WELL NEWS FLASH, YOU CAN'T! I'll hold this grudge until you either give me back my daughter or some grandchildren! I don't care if you're 'just workmates' I TAKE EVERY THREAT TO MY CHICKS SERIOUSLY!"

"...She does like the new name though. Dexter. It sounds smart, just like my little girl. ATTA GIRL! QUICK AS A VINE WHIP, JUST LIKE HER MOTHER!"

"Me? Don't have a name, don't want one. Not gonna let some human go around naming me. AND NEITHER WOULD ANY OTHER SELF RESPECTING PIDGEOTTO!"

"...Sentret likes her new name though. Picked it out herself from an old human book Jessie read to her."

*harrumph*

"So the human helps others, big whoop! When I was his age I helped loads of pokemon! DO MORE FOR YOUR COMMUNITY, YOU LITTLE BRAT! SHOW SOME HUSTLE!"

"I'm last on your list huh? That's fine. Glad to help regardless. So what do you need moved?"

"Not moved? Just some questions? Oh, sure! I can do that to! Sorry, people have just been asking me to move things a lot more since I evolved. Being this tall has some advantages, but I kinda miss being just a small fry..."

"Oh, I'm not sad, just nostalgic! I like being a Gyrados, really! Every Magikarp dreams of being one, and I was ready to evolve way back when the war first started."

"I didn't back then, because my friend, Corsola, she was teaching me all she knew about how to shoot spikes. I can't learn Spike Cannon like she can, but I can throw her spines pretty well now. Well, not 'now' now, but I was pretty good a few days ago! I should really practice more."

"Oh yeah, you were asking about my best friend! He's such a cool pokemon. I don't care if he used to be a human, anyone who does this much for everyone is a good pokemon to me!"

"Sure wish I could figure him out though. He said he likes both boys and girls, but he just likes me as a friend? Oh! Maybe Tentacools just have a different mating season? I should ask Chatty whenever he's done with his story..."

"Wonder how long that will take?"

The Pichu wraps up her report and hands it to her partner with glee. It wasn't easy learning how to write human, if you can call that chicken scratch 'writing', but it was at least legible. Riley nods at all the various reports and smiles.

-"This should be enough, thanks Pichu. If there were any doubters in the corps about how important he is to these pokemon, there sure won't be for long! Now we just need to figure out what to do about that situation out by the ruins and we can finish up our work in the area."

-"Pichu!" The little mouse gives a last look at the town and hops onto the ranger's shoulder. It would be a long flight back, but she could take pride in the work they had all done for this little community.

The Ruins Of Alph

We Stood Here For Ages!

We Protect HisHerTheirIt's

Secrets.

Almighty

For You

We Will Continue.

What Story Will He

Forge

With Our GiftCurseBlessingBurden?