Without much else to do, Carlos and his team, began dissecting and butchering the Ursaring. With Loki’s blades, some fillet knives and the work was done fast. Gwen assisted in freezing the meat while Carlos wrapped it tightly and vacuum sealed it to the best of his abilities with some plastic wrap and put it all in his new fancy Devon Backpack, he had bought not that long ago.
It was incredible how it would fit all the meat, miniaturizing it. Looking at the remains of the Ursaring he wondered if he could use the intestines to fashion a waterskin but he didn’t think he was that desperate, Loki got busy prepping the fur for leatherworking, not something done often in the Pokemon world, but waste not, want not. he shook his head at the random memories he still had from his previous life. They were incredibly disjointing with his current life.
He looked at both Dianne and Loki looking, and salivating at the bloody pile of intestines but they didn’t touch it.
“You guys want eat those? Might as well, you know I hate wasting and if it’s anything like the meat, it’s TE infused.” He asked.
“Could you bake up the liver for me?” Loki asked.
“The heart for me please,” Dianne asked.
Their eyes gleamed darkly but Carlos thought nothing of it. His team was above average in intelligence but it seemed his Pokemon never lost their wild and savage side, definitely not Kong, Dianne and Loki.
Carlos went to work and flavored it with spices for them both. Although the smell was way too gamey for him, the smell made them both incredibly ravenous.
Meanwhile the rest of the team started eating the now thoroughly done Drapion. Jackie ate very little and seemed pensive.
“You ok Jackie?” Carlos was munching on some shell meat of Drapion. It reminded him of chicken, albeit much, much more fattier, tastier and moist.
”Did you need to kill her?” He looked calmly at Carlos, there was no judgement in his eyes, just curiosity. Carlos took out the piece of paper with the job request and gave it to Jackie, letting him read the level of damage and destruction left in the now dead Ursaring’s wake.
”To he honest Jackie, I don’t know if it was right or wrong to kill her.” His brow was furrowed. “In the heat of the moment I was driven by instinct, my hands moved on their own. However we will give our respects to her, despite her dangerous and odd behavior that got her tagged in the first place.”
Jackie didn’t respond but nodded his acceptance of the answer.
“It smells far too delicious.” Dianne muttered, while fixated on the spit of meat Carlos had set up for her and Loki “Sure does.” Loki hummed in agreement. “Why does it smell so good?” Dianne muttered again in a haze. Carlos got distracted by her gaze “Hey you ok there Dianne?” She snapped out of it. “Y-yes alpha! The aroma is very delightful, I-I mean I’m sorry! I know I am not supposed to be this delighted for meat!”
Carlos shook his head, he observed Dianne had always enjoyed the meat more, of Pokemon that had fallen towards evil inclinations, it reminded him of the Murkrow he had talked to all those months ago. “Is that a dark type thing? They hunt troublesome Pokemon or people?” He didn’t voice those thoughts, he would ask Oak if he remembered.
“It’s ok Dianne don’t worry, don’t apologize for your own instincts ok? Just be aware of what they are.” Dianne nodded and moved away from the meat, Loki looked back and his own guilt made him do the same, although he made far less effort hiding his desire for the meat.
Kong grumbled. “She was lusting for the kill not the fight or food, look at her stuffed belly!” He kicked the bloated belly and a foul whisp of odor escaped it.
“Ok that, we will give to the forest. Go on pick it up and drop it far away from our camp, Kong.” Kong grumbled again but complied.
“This Ursaring is a good reminder of making sure we do not cross a bad line. To be honest I came rather close.” Carlos spoke, he looked at his hand, trembling. “I got way too close, enjoying that kill.” A slight quiver in his voice. He was really grateful, no human was around to hear him now. His team listened quitely. “I am glad you didn’t cross that line Alpha. We will help you make sure you won’t go near it.”
Dianne spoke, her and Loki sat down next to him, as Dark types they both knew what it was Carlos was struggling with. Gwen waddled over and gave the three a big hug, making it difficult for Carlos to continue working on cutting and dividing the meat.
Carlos smiled somewhat weakly. “I’ve come to rely on you lot, a lot more than I could have imagined. It was quite heartwarming to see you all jump to my defense.”
Gawain came closer and checked him out, touching and feeling Carlos bones. “The bones are still soft in places but it is remarkable how potent Kong’s noble Roar is.”
”Yea I can still feel my bones rattling while moving, definitely an upgrade from having them fractured and shattered in multiple locations.” Carlos grinned.
Gawain shook his head “Uncle, you are no longer allowed to help. Hewmons do not heal as fast as normal mon, and healing moves have subdued effects hou. Your organic tissue does not have the same TE absorption rate, you need to let your natural healing processes do their work, besides Pink sis will throw a fit if we don’t have a modicum of first aid care. Sit while we finish up.” Gawain laid behind Carlos and pulled him back gently so he could lean back into him and he curled around Carlos.
A shiver went through Carlos and he now felt that, although he was “healed.” According to his arceus system. The damage was still healing. As soon as he began pacing and calming his breathing and heartbeat, slowing down the adrenaline and endorphins flooding into his bloodstream, the soreness and the aching throbbing came to the forefront of his mind.
“Thank you Gawain, since when are you so, wholesome? What happened to the foulmouth?” Gawain scoffed and heated his body just a bit too hot, to punish Carlos for his teasing. “I’ve always been wholesome, I was mother’s favorite you know? As a cyndaquil I hated how afraid I was expressing my feelings…. And opinions properly. I owe you my life and a lot more, so shut up and sit still.”
”Glad you are here Gawain.” Carlos patted Gawain and sunk into Gawain’s pelt. He groaned.
“Holy hell, now that I actually feel the damage, she really did a number on me. Hey Gwen my dear can you pass me the next piece of Drapion? I can feel my TE and my physical energy draining.”
Gwen complied. Carlos began horking it down, the gaping pit in his stomach and his drained TE reserves, quickly becoming unbearable and looked over what his team was doing and nodded in approval.
He was amazed at how well trained and disciplined everyone was, thanks to Kong and Dianne’s help in training. Both took on the role of coach of the team whenever Carlos was busy with his gym responsibilities.
Kong as a fighter had simple but instinctual understanding of the team members strengths and weaknesses and was very perceptive in the small mistakes everyone made with their footwork, he had adapted different advise tailored for each.
Although Jackie and Loki often scoffed at his simple explanations and somewhat childish words and did the opposite of what Kong told them to do in training. He proved them wrong, every time.
Jackie came over again after everything was done. They had put all the meat away and plenty left if the rangers wanted food. They had messaged him with an eta. It would be another 10 minutes or so for the rangers to come
“Is your Dark typing really such a burden?” He asked, concern etched subtly in his voice.
“It is a burden, the same way your fighting type is, it feels like you are about to explode if you don’t center yourself right? It’s why you wear those gloves.”
Jackie nodded at that and took his gloves off. The moment he did his TE flared, blue fire came from his eyes and he began to growl, his expression became feral.
Carlos saw the flickering in his Arceus system. Jackie was struggling just sitting still, reluctantly he put the gloves back on and he calmed down again. The flickering of a new move almost coming into existence for him, faded.
“Yea definitely not that bad Jackie, holy hell do you have anger issues worse than Kong?” Carlos grinned.
Jackie smirked at the jab, “please, don’t insult me, it’s just really bad right after a big fight like this. Also The anger I felt at the assault at my new trainer was… potent.”
Carlos smiled, “Glad to have you around man.” He started theorizing about what he just observed and he had an inkling at what was going on, he started thinking most pokemon came with normal TE, not as an oddity but to help them balance out their more exotic TE. It wasn’t the first time he noticed how there were subtle advantages Double types had, over pure, tripple or quad types.
Jackie had transformed with an evolution stone and he had a very high amount of pure TE for his size. Carlos gave Kong a glance who didn’t need to hear what Carlos was thinking, he had the exact same thought.
Carlos was just wondering what they should do with the skeleton, when they heard the sound of a few big bird Pokemon. “I hear hewmon riders.” Dianne informed them. “Ah must be the rangers.” Carlos said. Not a moment later not just Rosalie and a few Rangers landed, but one of the local Joys, two Jennies and Surge came crashing down.
Besides the Kilowattrel from Rosalie, and Magnezone from Surge, everyone else was riding a Pidgeot.
Carlos quipped a painful smile. ”Yo Surge! I guess you guys wanted some barbecue huh? We have plenty on the spit.” Carlos moved to sit up but flinched as pain shot through his system. “Ow! Oh fuck that hurts!”
He flopped back unceremoniously and cursed a bunch more.
Surge with everyone else in tow, thundered over, tried and failed to smirk as worry, poorly masked, was all over his face. “Kid when I said to go have some fun, this is NOT what I meant!” He was about to say something else but Kong put a skewer of meat in his hand.
Gwen the sweetheart brought a bunch of the leftovers Drapion shells with meat in them for the Pidgeot and Killowatrel, who salivated over the meat. Jackie started helping out.
“Prime here ape is food.”
Surge meanwhile, was hit by the savory smell. “Oh wow that smells good, is that basil and rosemary? No stop distracting me you big furball!” He tried to shoe Kong away and give back the skewer but Kong was adamant.
The joy had rushed to Carlos and flinched when she saw the deep gaping clawmarks on Carlos chest. Carlos hadn’t done much to dress the wounds as it had mostly closed up already, his TE had rudimentary realigned his shattered solar plexus and a bunch of his ribs. “Corey is gonna lose it when she reads my report.” She muttered.
“Can you go easy on me? Really not looking forward to that particular conversation.” Carlos asked somewhat joking.
The Joy gave him a half amused, half insulted look, that told him her answer.
The rangers gave a brief nod to Carlos and fanned out looking at tracks of the Drapion, Ursaring and the half eaten, half melted Jigglytuff, writing things down and sharing worried looks.
“The drapion killed that one. I couldn’t harvest it, it spewed its acid all over it, to pre digest it.” They had seen that and gave a nod and kept doing their work.
”How bad is it nurse?” The older of the jennies asked.
”Very, very bad. we need to bring him to the hospital. We need to start guiding the realigning of his bones, they might heal all warped. I would hate to have to crack them again.”
”That’s a joke right?” Carlos was not looking forward to that.
”No it is not, I had 3 such surgeries myself.” Surge said. “Fuck me.” Carlos muttered.
The younger looking Jenny came over and sat down next to him.
Her hisuian Growlithe came out of its ball and barked happily. “Grow! Greetings citizens! I am happy Grow, to see you did such a splendid job of protecting your trainer lithe. Growlithe May I ask you two how the fight went? Human language is terrible in conveying the experience of such a thing.”
It had hopped over to Dianne and Kong who began telling the Growlithe what had happened. Jackie assisted as well, meanwhile Gawain and Loki stayed close to Carlos. Loki eyed the Jennies warily.
”Can you tell us exactly what happened mister Sicada?” The young Jenny asked, she had a sparkle to her eyes that was very endearing. However Carlos was also wary of the Jennies. “Am I in trouble?”
She smiled. “Not according to the law, I’m no ranger but I know of your history, your reputation of course and one look at the scene, tells us plenty of what went down here, quite frankly we are relieved you and your team are still in one piece. However as far as your girlfriend…” she smiled playfully.
Carlos nodded at that, and while Joy and her Pokemon began some quick first aid and emergency medical attention, Carlos spoke on what had gone down. Including the precautions he had taken in avoiding the Ursaring.
”So it attacked out of the blue? Just like that?” The young Jenny asked, concern written over her face, Carlos noted that she wasn’t using the usual emotional mask he had gotten used to with both Jennies and Joys.
Carlos sighed. “Yea it was like I was back in the hollow mountains all over again. I had almost forgotten what it is like to face a…” he didn’t know what the world for it was in this world. “Pokemon that isn’t just pissed but actually tries to kill you.”
”Please be more careful next time Mr Sicada, this Ursaring, from the look of it, could easily have done so.” The older Jenny spoke, stating the obvious.
Carlos shrugged and sighed again. “Not much more, as far as caution I could have done better, Ive been wracking my brain, I steered clear of her known area. The wind is blowing from the direction of Vermillion city, no matter what, that Ursaring and every other Pokemon, miles in every direction, knew I was here.”
”Why didn’t you catch it?” One of the rangers had walked up to the group.
“Would have made an amazing member on your team.” He finished.
Carlos frowned, he saw Jackie come closer wanting to hear as well, Carlos didn’t think a simple “I don’t know,” would suffice so he began explaining himself.
“You know, when I was still wandering around in the hollow mountains. I made quite a few mistakes in regards to respecting a Pokemon’s territory. About two months before I made contact with human civilization, I missed some signs, obvious in hindsight, complete rookie mistake, I was tired, hungry but I had walked into a Tyranitars territory, in a the manner they consider disrespectful.”
All the rangers flinched.
Carlos saw that everyone knew what he was talking about, it was something he had assisted in during a class he was asked to give in the local elementary school.
“Yea it’s not my proudest moment. So after running for my life, getting blasted by hyper beams, earthquakes, dodging rock slides, sand tombs and some really nasty looking Dark type attacks, I managed to calm him down, or he calmed down. Apologizing profusely for not recognizing his territory.”
”You make it sound like you have an unhealthy habit of antagonizing big strong Pokemon way out of your league.” The older Jenny said with a faint smirk on her face.
“That’s the point I’m trying to make. That Tyranitar wasn’t trying to kill me.”
”You must have hit your head a lot harder than I thought.” The Joy said, drawing smirks from those gathered around. Except the oldest ranger, who was quiet.
Carlos shrugged ”You don’t understand.
What I know of Pokemon, especially ones that are at the level of a Tyranitar, there is no way I could dodge the hyperbeam of a Tyranitar, who was dead set on trying to hit me.
It would have turned me into a bloodstain with a simple swift or rock throw, aimed properly I probably would never have seen it coming and be dead without so much as feeling any pain.
Wild Pokemon do not like to use big moves like Hyper beam. It’s bright, difficult and intense to use and often leaves you open to a flanking attack. They use it primarily to chase obnoxious trainers or Pokemon away and during territory disputes. Not to kill.”
“What are you getting at?” The young Jenny asked. Everyone was quiet now, Surge saw where this was going.
“Ursaring’s are not that different from Tyranitars, in that they are similarly territorial and make liberal use of hyperbeam to tell everyone who invades their territory, to piss off. This one.” He pointed at the carcas, “didn’t. This one was hunting me.”
All the rangers sighed and slumped their shoulders.
“Arceus damn it kid, I’m beginning to believe you are bad luck, or have a knack for finding it.”
The oldest Ranger groaned.
Carlos was somewhat surprised at their reaction. “What do you mean?”
“Pokemon hunting people hasn’t happened in forever, this would be the first case I ever ran into during my 20 years as a ranger. We tag Pokemon, like this Drapion and Ursaring because they run the risk of going truly feral, now a case of true feral Pokemon hasn’t happened since the war. Most of the time any Pokemon that gets close to that state, end up on some bigger stronger pokemon’s dinner plate or we catch it and give it psychological treatment.
Did you know that it is theorized by some in the scientific community that Dark types, especially the Mightyena line have a strong proclivity to hunt Pokemon that are close? They apparently love the flavor and taste.”
Carlos nodded.
The old Ranger continued. “Now kid, Pokemon going feral isn’t a process well understood, we know that stress and excessive deadly violence leads to it. Normal type pokemon have never been seen to go feral on their own in over a hundred years. For there to be a normal Feral Pokemon…” he didn’t finish his sentence.
Carlos didn’t understand at first but after a while a light bulb went up. “If there is a normal Pokemon gone feral, something or someone is causing it.” The oldest Ranger nodded but frowned at the last part. “Someone?” He muttered before shaking his head.
“As rangers, we are tasked with guarding and observing the mental state of wild Pokemon.”
He cleared his throat. “After you are given your medical clear, the ranger corp will require your ability as a whisperer Mr Sicada, the wilderness areas of Vermillion city is vast. Rooting this out, without your communications abilities, is nearly impossible, wild Pokemon get very nervous when you use Psychic pokemon for communication.”
“Just so you know, that means you will be working for the rangers and not as a gym trainer, don’t worry about the contract, this takes precedence.” Surge said, he smirked, guess you will be hunting to your hearts content for a while, don’t be a stranger you hear?”
Carlos was a bit overwhelmed by that but everyone around him didn’t seem surprised in the least. “I’ll be in your care.” He reached out with his hand and the old Ranger shook it. “The name is Leslie, Leslie Snipes.” Carlos smirked. “Good to meet you Leslie.”
“Alright we need to get you back to Vermillion. My man. You can’t move much can you?” Surge asked. Carlos shook his head. “Yea I can move with full motion range but it hurts like hell.”
the Joy grabbed one of her pokeballs and a Kirlia materialized, that took one look at what was going on and used the move psychic to pick Carlos up. She gently placed him on a saddle like stretcher, that was fastened behind the Pidgeot the Joy rode. Joy and her Pokemon carefully strapped him down so he would sit snug and not jerk around due to movement.
Carlos Pokemon stuffed their faces with the meat and gave Carlos a healthy amount to eat during his transit. The younger male ranger who hadn’t introduced himself looked with a pained expression at Carlos happily horking down the well done meat. Surge and Leslie gave him a helping hand. Eating heartily.
All of his Pokemon returned themselves to their balls after they gave Surge Carlos’s backpack.
The group waited for Carlos to finish. Carlos, perceptive as he was had noticed the awkwardness from the middle of the pack ranger. He looked far less experienced than Rosalie and Leslie.
”Is there something wrong?” Carlos asked.
”No nothing, well I am a vegetarian and I’m always uncomfortable when people eat meat.”
”Just people?” Carlos asked with a thin, amicable smile. He pegged the man for a fairy/grass trainer. He had that look.
He sighed. “The name is Mikel. Sorry I know, I’ve sat through the lectures on the cycle of life and all that but It still makes me uncomfortable, eating meat from sentient creatures I mean.”
Carlos could absolutely understand that. “I know how you feel but that is the world we live in. It all boils down to the resource we call TE. Carnivores can absorb it best through meat, TE bushes only from the corpses of powerful alpha Pokemon and.” Mikel interrupted. “Wait what?”
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”What?” Carlos was confused.
”What do you mean with TE plants needing the corpses of pokemon?” Mikel looked aghast.
Leslie jumped in. “It’s a theory Mikel, somewhat disputed yet accepted by the scientific community. It isn’t really taught since TE fruits aren’t well understood. Besides all the TE farmers use the tried and true method of TE infusion with grass or fairy Pokemon that have the chlorophyll ability.”
Carlos nodded. “I had a pretty wise and old Meganium explain that to me in the Hollow mountains. Wild Pokemon that tend to their groves without the human agriculturally raised Pokemon, do not have the luxury. All they can do is act like guardians and guide their orchards to grow well, for them it is a constant balancing act of how much TE they can use on a daily basis. Once the guardian dies, it usually has its grave close to a TE plant, or the pack uses the body to start a new grove or Orchard, so it’s TE can be absorbed. Burried with life seeds. I’ve even observed some of the more intelligent carnivorous Pokemon do such a thing in the wild. However for the most part when a pack member of a carnivorous species dies. The pack eats its dead members meat as part of their last rite ritual. So it’s spirit can endure in the pack, ive seen both the primeape, and Mightyena line practice this in the hollow mountains.”
He looked at Mikel. “Point I’m making, is that directly or indirectly, you will sooner than later, absorb TE and nutrients from a dead Pokemon. It’s not right or wrong, it’s sustenance and survival.”
Leslie and Rosalie smirked. “We have had that exact conversation a dozen times with him.” Carlos shrugged and smiled. “Like I said Mikel I get it. Have you ever looked into one of the last animal reserves in Unova? It has some fascinating things going on.” Surge shifted uncomfortably. he gave Carlos a discreet look.
”There is an animal reserve in Unova? I thought.” Mikel didn’t finish his sentence.
“That unova only believed in progress and big giant environmentally unsafe machinery?” Carlos smirked.
Mikel smiled sheepishly. “Kinda.”
”There are 2 animals there that are fascinating to me. The bear and the salmon. So I saw some videos of a bear only eating the belly part of the salmon they caught. Obviously I thought that was super wasteful. Turns out they only eat what they need. They leave the rest unwittingly for animals that can’t catch salmon, to eat. This process is responsible for 25% of the fertilization of that reserve. It’s fascinating how a seemingly brutish and simplistic creature completely overlooked by everyone, can play such a crucial part in an ecosystem.”
”You seem to know a lot about this.” The younger Jenny asked while happily helping Carlos and co, eat all the meat they had roasted.
“Well, surviving on my lonesome, it was valuable to know how nature and Pokemon worked, so observing how everything worked became a habit. And I find it fascinating to read about in my spare time.”
“Alright enough chitchat, I still need to do some medical work on you, Mr. Sicada and seeing how you hork down all that meat and have an abundance of TE in your system, the sooner the better.”
With that, everyone got to work to leave and they pushed off.
Carlos didn’t remember much as he dozed off, the Kirlia was sitting on his lap, using psychic constantly, to cushion any jerking motions the Pidgeot made in flight. It was rather comfy and he was vast asleep. The next moment he woke up he was laying in a bed in a pokemon center. The nightstand had his pokedex and he reviewed the contract he had signed making contact with civilization, he sighed. The contract stipulated his obligation to the rangers request quite clearly. It meant he would be working with the rangers for the next month or so.
Corey walked in with a stack of medical paperwork.
“Morning sleepyhead, you thinking on making it a tradition with me sitting next to you recovering for days watching you sleep?” She spoke playfully but there was obvious worry as well. They were alone so she plainly showed him her emotional state. She was relieved of course but Carlos really didn’t like her reserved reaction. It was cold compared to her usual self.
“So in your medical opinion, how bad was it?” He asked.
“I prefer we talk about something more positive, like how we have only been together for 3 months and we are already engaged for a month. Do you think we will have a long and happy life together? Or do you think we will have a good time till you are done working for Surge?” Again he didn’t like the tone of her voice.
“Where is this coming from?” Carlos asked, obviously he knew but he needed her to say it.
“It’s coming from the fact that I know you got patched up, or patched yourself up from more lethal injuries than Surge experienced in his lifetime. You have been in this world for less than a year Carlos.” Now she sounded downright accusatory.
Carlos sighed. “That isn’t fair, I got unceremoniously dumped on a mountain side of an antagonistic Mega Tyranitar, with dragons fighting for territory on the west, cruel Hydreigon’s to the south, a psychopath Arbok on the east and with north bearing something so vile, not a single Pokemon in that mountain range had the courage to talk about.”
“You are no longer in those mountains Carlos, why can’t you move on? Why can’t you leave it behind?”
“What are you going on about?“ Carlos really didn’t like the turn this conversation was taking.
Corey bristled. “Im going on about, the fact that you knew there were incredibly dangerous Pokemon yet you still sought them out!” She threw the crumpled piece of paper containing the warning of the Ursaring.
Carlos snapped. “I didn’t seek out shit! Never since coming here, have I sought out an Ursaring. I avoid them like an Abra avoids social contact.”
“You are far too reckless Carlos, you are going to get yourself killed.”
“On the contrary I am incredibly cautious.”
Corey scoffed in disbelief.
Carlos: “I don’t go looking for trouble, Trouble finds me, and if I don’t do what I do, one day I will be in way over my head, with the little I know of the future, stuff that I suspect will happen. If I don’t have a full team of Alpha Pokemon I will be screwed.”
“Carlos! You could have asked other trainers to help out! Yet you went ahead alone!”
Carlos opened his mouth and closed it again. He smiled, “you got me there. Sorry babe that didn’t even cross my mind.”
Corey groaned. “It didn’t cross your mind? Oh ok so you aren’t overconfident, you’re just an idiot bonehead then?”
Carlos smirked, “Looks like it babe, look I don’t know what to tell you, I gave that Ursaring’s territory a massive berth with a large margin of error. Truth be told, I find Ursaring’s scarier than most dragons.”
Corey took a deep breath. She sat down next to him on the bed and traced the deep gouges on his chest with her fingers. “I know you think these sort of scars are cool as hell but it really doesn’t earn you any favors with me.”
Carlos grabbed her hand gently. “It’s comforting to know you were worried sick.”
“Arceus be damned you can be such an asshole!” She slapped him on the shoulder and winced when it hurt her more. “Seems like you still have some residual rock elements in your system you rock for brains.” She turned away.
Carlos gently nudged her chin so she would look him in the eye. “Wanna know the first thing going through my head, getting gouged, flung through a small tree, while narrowly avoiding getting turned into a bloodstain?”
Corey rolled her eyes. “That I would be pissed?”
In a fleeting moment, Carlos remembered picturing Corey’s face, witnessing his fight against the Ursaring firsthand. The absolute gut wrenching expression of terror. A face he never wanted to see. He smiled. “Basically.” He said.
Corey expression softened and wrapped him up in a hug. She didn’t say anything she just stayed like that for a few minutes. “Sorry for lashing out.”
Carlos hugged her a bit tighter, “It’s ok.” She got up and walked towards the door and locked it. She walked up to the curtains and closed them.
Two weeks later Surge POV.
It had finally happened, he had a seat at the table. He made no illusions about how he got here. Obviously he had put in the work, wheeling, dealing and hustling. There was however no denying that a significant part of that, had been the grind and magnetic pull Carlos had on people.
He felt melancholic remembering the faces of all the rookie trainers walking past his Gym’s doors. So many of them angsty, awkward teenagers but it was plain for all to see the mentorship they craved, the role models they all needed and the lack thereof so many of them had, that kid with his Zubat, now a Golbat, his Ledyba, now a Lefian and his starter, now a Sir Fetch’d,
was doing great, that sort of thing was what Surge realized made it all worth it. He straightened his back. “All the more reason to work and keep working for peace”, he thought to himself. “Never again.”
He gave the document laying in front of him, handed to everyone else as well, a quick cursory glance.
He looked around the conference hall was somewhere inside the mountain the Ice gym Pryce ran, used for its gym battles. The room was carved from solid rock with a solid marble table perfectly cut in the middle. Braziers had lit creating a somewhat overly dramatic feel to the room.
He looked at the faces of the table. Pryce at the head, then Oak and the indigo representative he always forgot the name of, to Pryce’s left and the female Head ranger, Vivilan to his right. A six foot tall muscular woman, her affinity for ground and fire Pokemon evident. She was middle aged, had greying hair but her eyes were sharp and fierce as ever.
He remembered seeing her docile but Fierce Camerupt in a spite match against that annoying new psychic ace trainer making waves. Everyone had loved how Vivilan had put the guy into the dirt. But that glean in the man’s eyes, were just as indicative, of how hard fought the fight had been. This psychic trainer would keep rising. Surge put it out his mind.
Furthermore there was Giovanni, an elder Joy and an elder Jenny, oh he remembered her. She was the one that had lead the investigation against him all those years ago. Then next to her was Agatha, one of the elite four, Bruno who nodded to him. Koga who Surgr gave a shit eating grin. The minor Dark Gym leader going by the name of Slade And lastly the Saffron Gym leader Harold, looking tense for obvious reasons. Besides Oak, Vivilan and himself, everyone had retainers, protégés or assistants sitting or standing behind them.
There were hushed conversations, especially between Agatha, Jenny and Joy who were arguing about something. Surge noticed Karen behind Agatha, the old witch was grooming the girl to take her position, Surge caught Slade eyeing Karen but she completely ignored him, “lovers spat?” He thought. Koga, had his Protege attend as well.
Pryce struck with his Gavel.
“First order of Business. Our new illustrious whisperer Carlos. Everyone here, has had about three months of their people interacting and gathering intel on the man, or had first hand experience themselves. What are everyone’s thoughts? Let’s start with you Surge, Oak and Vivilan since you three have first hand work experience with him. There has been nasty rumors in the higher circles of our society, the man is a star child. What is your opinion on that matter?”
“My, my he doesn’t waste time, I barely heard the rumor myself. Carlos sure had a point with this table, if the first order of business is this sort of political bullshit.” Surge thought silently as he mentally put up his mask. His shit eating grin that came so naturally to him, plastered all over his face. Surge spoke loud and clear.
“Well I can see why people would think that, he’s somewhat paranoid, very inquisitive as you and Giovanni have undoubtedly noticed.” Smiling while pointing out their embarrassment. This drew some chuckles from everyone present.
Giovanni’s interjected as his voice rumbled through the room.“As embarrassing as that whole fiasco was, it was a cold reality check the company needed. Our internal investigation cleared up quite a few discrepancies that had previously gone under the radar. In the end Mr Sicada poking around turned out to be boon.”
He motioned to Surge, “Apologies, please continue.” Surge noddded. Pryce grumbled something unkind about youngsters under his breath.
“Anyway, all the indicators notwithstanding, the man suffered an incredible injury that he survived by the grace of Arceus and some friendly rock flock, led by a Golem and Magcargo. He remembers practically nothing from before the injury.”
Oak spoke up. “I hardly believe it is fair to besmirch the man’s name simply because of envy towards his potential as a trainer. Besides due to this memory loss that my Alakazam has verified, there is no way to know.”
Surge shrugged, “Bar a mental reconstruction from a psychic Pokemon.” Everyone shivered, that practice had been banned before the war with good reason.
“So no way to know.” Koga repeated.
Surge nodded. “Exactly, which left all of us the option of observing. Now if he does have the Arceus blessing all star children had, he has made an incredible effort to hide it at all costs. In the 3 months I have worked with the man he has shown no indication he has that particular gift. Which brings me to my next two points, the part that I feel acquits him of the title, star child.” Surge paused.
“Spit it out, this is not the only thing that needs to be discussed.” Pryce grumbled impatiently.
“The Joys can attest and confirm this, the absurdly numerous indicators of previous injuries don’t give a lot of credence to this rumor and second, his character.
If I hadn’t met him in the mountains myself, I would have pegged him as a well behaved cutthroat. Every star child, even the ones ok with eating meat, were very reluctant in participating in hunts of Pokemon, considering the act barbaric, most of them only ate poketail or sushi. Carlos, embracing the cycle of life wholeheartedly, deep down he is wild, primal, instinctual.”
Vivilan the leader of the ranger huffed. “I can concur with that, the man is a born tracker and hunter, his Mightyena has an incredible nose even for her species. The way he tracks his prey with his mightyena, he seems more comfortable in the wild, surrounded by dangerous Pokemon than people, he hides and controls it well but he has an aggression similar to wild Pokemon.” She turned to the champion. “Pryce, on that note, the man has indicated he feels enclined to join the ranger corps after his commitment with the Vermillion Gym is over. These last two weeks, his help with rooting out the problem concerning that Ursaring going feral, has been essential, besides he’s a natural ranger.”
Pryce waved her off. “Later, by the way, any update on this feral Ursaring?”
Vivilan nodded, “nothing concrete yet but everything points to the Ursaring losing her mate, rather cruelly, in a territorial dispute with Hydreigon a couple of months back and the rage that sparked never simmered down. So far it seems to be an isolated incident.
”We really need to get the bloody overbreeding of Hydreigon under control.” Slade grumbled, which everyone in the room hummed in agreement with.
“None of this, is an argument against the unnatural distrust he has shown with people, the reports I read, talk about his constant surprise with the trustworthiness of humans, this sort of paranoia is not normal for the people of this world, Mister Sicada would not be the first to have grown up in the wild.“ Giovanni pointed out. “Most star children believed me to be a criminal mastermind, how many audits has my family suffered for all the loose claims to ultimately lead to nothing?” Giovanni bristled. A rare thing for the man of patience.
“Actually he has never accused you of anything sir,” Surge said. “Him, like all of us, firmly believe in innocence until proven guilty. although he does have a keen interest in the war and has been digging through it all, including your accomplishments.”
“What you are pointing out Giovani, is not all that curious,” now it was Oak to wave it off. “In my own limited time with the boy, he told me he met many Pokemon in the hollow mountains, who used to be members of those who perished in war, his Quilava is a direct descendant of the late Johto fire gym leader and his wife’s Typhlosions. All of this inevitably must have colored the boy’s perception. Every line off questioning the boy had for me, stemmed from how things will or would affect Pokemon and his desire to understand, had he been a bit more interested in the elegance of science, I might have offered him an internship.” Oak added.
“High praise, Professor.” Giovanni gave an amicable smile to professor Oak and a somewhat sidelong glance.
Oak nodded. “Indeed.”
“Do the Joy and Jenny clan have something to offer in this regards? Isn’t he romantically involved with one of yours Ivonne?” Pryce said, Directing his line of questioning to the Elder Joy. Vivilan smirked, “yea I saw his sweetie a couple of times.”
The elder Joy groaned, “Ugh, please don’t remind me, and for your information he snagged my grand daughter, so I would appreciate some silence on the matter.” She glared at Vivilan, who raised her hands in mock defense.
Agatha rolled her eyes. “That grand daughter of yours, is your own splitting image, except she’s as smart as she thinks she is.” Agatha sneered. “Besides, why are you blaming her? In your own heyday you would have snatched a tasty morsel such as that man, faster than you could blink.” Agatha sneered at the elder Joy.
This drew some snickering from the other ladies present. Surge shivered. He hated how plain they made their ability on pulling a guys strings. “Nothing like his Miya,” he thought. Miya made her manipulation obvious to him. Turned it into a playful game.
“Please, stay focused we don’t have all day!” Pryce grumbled loudly. The elder Joy sneered at him. There was bad blood between the two but Pryce had bad blood with everyone it seemed.
Elder Joy continued. “As frustrating as that man is, we have seen no indication of him being a star child in regard to his mental faculties, his disposition is of one who was stuck in the wild all his life.”
“Good, Although I have faith in my own company, nobody but accountants, like audits.” Giovanni quipped. This drew a thin chuckle from Pryce. He turned to the Psychic Gym leader.
“Next order of business, Harold. How is your daughter?” Pryce had a bit of genuine warmth in his tone, that took everyone by surprise for a hot second until everyone remembered thar Pryce doted on his own grand daughter, Lorelai, who was sitting behind him with a sleeping Cetoddle next to her.
“Huh, so he does have some empathy, im sure that will come as a surprise to the jennies.” Surge thought, he glanced at the elder Jenny and smirked, he was right. Good to know that as good as they were, some things did get past them.
Harold spoke stiffly, obviously trying to stay calm. “She woke up about a week ago. Physically she’s doing fine. Her Abra evolved and her psychic abilities are flourishing. More so than before the…. attack.” Surge felt uncomfortable. This news should be great, yet Harold delivered the words with pain and sorrow in his voice.
“For all intents and purposes she is doing great, amazing even. However she’s no longer my little girl.” A quiver in the man’s voice. “She was always eccentric, stubborn and talked out of turn, but everything is off. For one, she no longer smiles, she no longer looks at me or my wife as parents but like, like, strangers. She remembers everything yet there’s no longer an emotional connection to those memories. She performs her duties as a future gym leader no longer with passion but with cold clinical precision bordering on ruthless. She has taken, to setting increasingly more ridiculous conditions on trainers if they lose the match. Some of which were completely unethical.”
Harold’s voice was shaking by the end.
Agatha spoke up. “Me and Ivonne have been testing and analyzing the girls mental state. It is obvious, that the perpetrators extracted some of the girls Psychic TE and normal TE. All we can say is that we have no clue what the long term consequences are on her psychological state since none of our records have anything on such a case. As far as we know, this has never been done before.” Agatha looked uncharacteristically apologetic to Harold. “The silver lining is that your girl is a fighter and we have seen subtle indications that her mind is slowly fixing itself, however we estimate that this will take years. For the time being she should not leave Saffron city.
Harold nodded, “I have already erected mental blocks in her mind that she’s not aware off, even if she grows stronger in that regard. I know my duty.”
Surge took a deep breath, he was glad he wasn’t Harold. He doubted he could do the same.
“Which brings us to the next point.” The big screen behind Pryce turned on showing a still image of Psychic gym security feed. Showing Kai and Jasper. “The perpetrators. Now Im reading here that these two boys originating from Orre, were thrown in jail recently, for 8 years due to a list of illegal activities, one of which was attempted kidnapping of owned Pokemon in Blackthorne.” He turned to the elder Jenny, giving her a glare, that demanded explanation.”
Jenny scoffed, and returned the glare venomously. “If the leagues hadn’t tied the arm of the law like it has, we would have been able to find the problems that led to this attack, before they took root.”
Now it was Surge’s turn to scoff, he dropped his mask. Lightning crackled around him, causing all eyes to turn on him. “If the league had allowed for these changes you personally requested all those years ago, Jenny. I would be in jail, innocently I might add.”
Pryce face became stone like and icy cold. “Withdraw yourself Surge, before I forget you are indeed innocent.”
Surge calmed himself down withdrawing the electricity, he made a point of showing he struggled with calming down, which was partially true.
The elder Jenny got up and walked towards Surge. Standing before him prim and proper, her face made of stone.
“With these newest developments, the revelation and confirmation of those responsible for this latest attack on Kanto. We know that now.”
She bowed with her face pointed towards the floor. “As the one responsible for this injustice against you, the way the Jennies have treated you with distrust all these years. I formally apologize.” She didn’t wait for a response and returned back to her seat.
Surge didn’t know what to think or say so he just stared at the woman like he just saw her for the first time.
“So who is it that you believe is responsible miss Jenny?” Pryce asked, with impatient undertones.
It was Ivonne the elder Joy who spoke up. “The death cult of Giratina. The cult responsible for the rise of the revenants, plunging this world into numerous dark ages and the downfall of many of our previous societies and kingdoms.
Giovanni spoke right before Pryce could speak. “How can that be? I thought they were rooted out, or at the very least contained to the group that follows Cyrus around in Sinnoh, whom you heavily monitor.”
Jenny nodded to Giovanni. “That was what we believed as well. But upon further investigation with these new facts in hand. The Jenny force in Sinnoh did a lot of extensive digging and had underground operatives feel out Cyrus’s team activity.
To give you all a quick summary.
Their clandestine claim, was that they had nothing to do with this. Turns out, Cyrus was in fact a member of the death cult many years ago but had a falling out with its leaders. Cyrus departure, with many loyal to Cyrus leaving, created an off shoot of the death cult. They call themselves team galactic now, no longer associating themselves with the death cult.”
This was a development that no one at this table had any idea of. That much was clear to Surge looking around. After the small pause for people to absorb this news, Jenny continued.
“This event left the death cult vulnerable, so as it’s first response to the creation of this team galactic, the death cult moved quickly to pin all blame of many of their recent nefarious activities on Cyrus and his cronies and put all their infiltration agents into sleeper mode. This recent attack, combined with some of these agents becoming active again, not just in Sinnoh but in many other places of the world, where we know Cyrus has no hold.
Has had nefarious activity that we now know, as death cult activity.
Putting all the facts together, the way these death cult members were able to move around, there is only one explanation. They infiltrated every known part of government, the Joy’s, the jennies, the leagues, most likely the gyms, everything, world wide.” The room was silent.
Pryce broke the silence. “How?”
Jenny paged someone on her pokedex and someone rolled in a stretcher with a corpse covered by a white sheet. The smell made it obvious.
Jenny walked up to the stretcher. “Now Harold, let me preface this by letting you know. This.” She pointed at the corpse. “Is not the perpetrator of the crime against your daughter.” She lifted the sheet and the face of a dead boy was revealed, Kai. The same splitting image of the face on the big screen.
“What is going on Miss Jenny?” Pryce spoke darkly. That is most obviously the perpetrator.” He looked at the file in front of him. “Kai Vesper.”
Elder Joy spoke up: “That my dear Pryce, is a clone.” Pointing at the corse.
The room gasped. The temperature of the room dropped to icy levels. Everyone murmured and spoke in hushed voices to one another breaking decorum. Giovanni tapped the table with his fist. “Of course! That would explain the discrepancies we found in Silph and Devon! What are the irregularities we need to look for miss Jenny? In rewards to the clones I mean?
Jenny raised her hands. “I will send everyone a report of our findings, in short, we found none, none whatsoever physically at first. except the unexplainable death of this clone. It’s like someone just shut it off.”
She sighed and visibly struggled to keep talking.
“I need to clarify the depths of their infiltration of the Jennies and the shame they brought upon us. The entirety of the heavy crime penitentiary and asylum, was cloned to keep us Jennies and Joys in the dark on what they were doing to our actual criminals.”
“WHAT!?” Pryce lurched “WHAT!?” He yelled again. Chaos erupted in the room.
Jenny looked utterly ashamed of herself but forced herself to continue after everyone quieted down after Pryce struck down with his gavel multiple times.
“How they were able to do this, is of the greatest concern. We estimate that Their ability to gestate clones is less than a week. We found the real criminals held in an identical asylum and penitentiary, a week after discovering this was a clone, in a location disclosed in my report. All dead. Including all the people we now know were clones.
“Bloody fucking hell.” Surge muttered, “This is worse than the start of the war. “So Jenny, if they can clone people this easily, how can we trust anyone?” He asked the question burning on everyone’s mind.
Oak stood up. “The Jennies and Joy’s came to me a week ago with this news and asked me to inquire with Celebi.
As you all know, Celebi is incredibly careful with divulging any form of information or interacting with the world. in fear of poluting the time line. However she informed me that ace trained psychic pokemon can pick up on the irregularities in someone that is cloned, if they know what to look for. It taught my Alakazam and the psychic Pokemon used by law enforcement.
Lastly it told me that the death cult is very much aware of this irregularity and will hit the kill switch on a clone the moment any psychic Pokemon try to scry them, there is a feedback loop that they can trigger remotely. Which is why this Kai clone ended up dead.”
Pryce. Rolled his eyes. “Figures, so if we start scying on masse and people start dropping like flies, it would cause a mass panic. Ladies and gentlemen if you are suspicious of those around you, please be discreet.”
Giovanni shook his head. “How insidiously genius. They change out low rank people or those who wouldn’t be scrutinized, while their higher rank infiltrators have training on how to handle surface level psychic reads, and then when they are discovered they leak the fact that they are cloning, in turn protecting their real operatives from getting scried.”
Surge was baffled by how fast Giovanni put that all together.
Pryce looked at Jenny. “I hereby, as the champion authorize the T.b.V protocol for all of law enforcement, for all gym leaders and Corporations, when a suspicious element is found. The U.T protocol. Jenny, I will write and sign a recommendation that you may bring to all the other champions, advising them the same. You all know what to do. This meeting is adjourned. I expect weekly reports from everyone.” He gave everyone a pointed look. “No one talks about any of this, unless you are sitting at this table.”
With that Pryce got up and left.
Giovani POV.
When he finally came to the safety of his office room.
The one he spend milions on making sure it secure and private.
When he was finally away from the prying eyes of the public. He snapped. His fist wrapped in ground TE, a bone like hue slammed in his table breaking it in two, powdering some of the wood on impact. It had been years for him to fume with this much rage. His posture was grotesquely feral.
“Clones!” And immaculate ones to boot, indistinguishable from the genuine article, applied with a finesse that had him baffled. Infiltrating the Joy’s and Jennies? That was unthinkable! They were clans older then any other. Outdating every known society.
Agatha walked in, she gave the scene a singular glance. “Huh, I take it you didn’t know either?”
Giovanni straightened himself, bringing himself to his immaculate civil posture. “Not even a suspicion Agatha and it has me re-evaluating our motivations during the war, was it the death cult that pushed us to do their dirty work? It means I was infiltrated as well. I will need to perform a purge of my own organization.”
“You already suspect someone?” Agatha quirked her eyebrow.
Giovanni spoke with an icy cold. “My uncle, there are some discrepancies that could be explained away neatly if he answers to that cult.” He turned to Agatha. “How did this happen Agatha? How did they play not just the league but us like puppets on a string?
They fooled the Jennies and Joys with virtually perfect clones, they fooled us with the belief we were dealing with the hidden dark side of the Joys and Jennies.”
Giovanni clenched his fist. Was his father’s life’s work tarnished as well? So much to do. If they messed around with the creation of a legendary, this could lead to the end of everything he worked for. The end of the Giovanni line.
“This enemy predated the Joy’s and Jennies Sakaki. They are older, wiser. I had no clue myself either.” Agatha shrugged but couldn’t hide the venom in her voice.
Giovanni face went dark. “Everything we’ve done in the last 20 years must now be reexamined as a miscalculation.”
Agatha looked him over. “So what will you do?”
Giovanni sighed. “I do not make excuses for who I am. I know that many of the things ive done should have landed me in jail but it was all for the greater good.” He looked at Agatha with a fire in his eyes. “For the supremacy of Kanto. These filthy roaches spit on that, there is only one response.”
