Rattata Chapter 89: Onwards to safer pastures (Patreon)

“Revenge killing, he’s been making too many arrests,” the officer Jenny from the hospital spat angrily, broken arm in a cast.

Joey stood darkly at the edges of the spontaneous field hospital that had been erected before the half-burnt Pokecenter for all the civilians who’d been injured during the evacuation and the gym trainers and their Pokemon who’d been hurt defending the gym.

So far Joey had counted five human fatalities along with several Pokemon ones.

“This wasn’t theft, extortion or fraud,” he said slowly. “This was wide-scale terrorism.”

Jenny, who had reminded him that they’d already met during the Voltorb situation nodded. “I could be out there helping,” she cursed slowly while bringing up her good arm to massage her bandaged head. “If it wasn’t for this fucking concussion…”

Joey looked across the wide street which had been filled out with blankets underneath groaning figures, human and Pokemon and rangers helping a group of Chansey administer first aid.

Nurse Joy was shouting orders like a general in battle.

More than two dozen. To think that this was only the part of the wounded, the others having swamped the hospital into being unable to spare even a single nurse on doctor for those not critically wounded. 

Butterfree flew over the wretched congregation keeping out an eye for any incoming danger alongside a bunch of almost hyper-sonic Pidgeot doing the same circles higher up and at a much larger scale.

Slugma, who wasn’t really able to help, had been recalled.

Joey’s team had been called out for some potions, before being recalled to not further strain the already strained medical services available.

An older grizzled ranger with some extra decorations on his shoulder suddenly stepped toward Joey with a short nod.

“You were the first on the scene on the river after King. Preliminary report?” the man asked.

Joey recognised the ranger as the same one who’d come to ask him questions after the Arbok debacle one year ago.

“Two dozen Gyarados fighting their way up the river. Rage and Hyper Beams. A dozen Golbat with rockets on the back and radios in the claws flying overhead. There’s no real explanation beyond the fact that the radios were transmitting a frequency disturbing the Gyarados for the carrying of such equipment. King told me to protect the Pokecenter. His gym Pokemon had the situation there covered according to him,” Joey explained succinctly, idly noticing a dishevelled Jessie arriving and seamlessly integrating herself into the rangers and Chansey to provide first aid.

“He saved my life at the Pokecenter, I was holding them off while Nurse Joy evacuated the Pokemon but I wouldn’t have been able to hold on a second longer,” Officer Jenny piped up before wincing and clutching her head.

“I lost all my Pokemon with non-lethal take-down capabilities in the gym battle and left Butterfree at the river in case King needed a Sleep Powder,” Joey picked up again. “All I had was Slugma who unleashed a field of lava to protect Jenny’s and Chansey’s retreat. After knocking out Arbok, the Golbat and Raticate fled, knocking their trainers into the lava amidst another Lava Plume. They got covered. Can’t say I cared much, I was too busy running back to the river. Then you arrived, you know the rest.” He cursed. “Fuck! If only I’d been faster!” He clenched his fists and glared down at the grey road they were standing on.

The ranger nodded. “I understand the gist. Our Hurricane killed a few of the Rockets as well. It can happen in the heat of battle when you have to choose between non-violent methods of arrest and risking further danger to civilians and infrastructure.” The older man awkwardly clapped a hand on Joey’s shoulder. “You did good kid,” he said, before walking off and conversing with a younger ranger who seemed to be reporting something with a serious face.

“Hey!” Joey suddenly shouted, causing the man to turn his head. “Could I have saved King had I been faster?” he asked angrily.

“Traces of Weavile DNA were found in the wound. The dark type shredded the heart on impact with its claws. This was a clean kill. Unless you had the reaction time of a Latias there was no chance,” the man replied simply before walking off with the other ranger.

“What the fuck is this escalation,” Joey asked angrily.

Wasn’t Pokemon supposed to be a happy go go world where nobody ever died?

Well, to be fair, this world was a mix of the anime and the games and there had been many incidents in both which more realistically should have resulted in deaths. It just hadn’t been brought up because it had been media directed at children.

But violence was always present wherever there was life and death was as inevitable as life. 

“It wasn’t publicly released, but King…” Jenny muttered, before trailing off.

“What?” Joey asked.

“A few months ago, while arresting a Rocket cell trying to steal the Electrode and Voltorb of the power plant, one of the Hydro Pumps broke the neck of a Rocket Executive,” the officer muttered awkwardly. “It’s why the power plant had to spend more to increase security.”

Joey cursed. “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.”

“That’s a rather high-minded perspective!” the officer praised kindly.

Joey threw the woman an ugly smile.

No, he thought. It just means you should harvest as many eyeballs as possible before they finally get you.

“I hope the League manages to do something about Team Rocket,” Joey eventually complained. “This has gone too far.”

“Indeed it has,” Jenny muttered, before waving him off. “Go, kid, you’re a hero today, you deserve a rest.”

Joey shook his head, put his hands in his pocket and simply stood there for a moment, unsure of where to go.

Eventually he decided to slowly amble his way towards the gym after waving at Butterfree to follow.

The flying bug Pokemon went down to swirl in the air above him. “Enjoying your new form?” Joey asked succinctly.

“Freeeee!” Butterfree screamed while continuing to spin and play with the wind.

The trainer looked up at the blue sky.

A perfectly calm day, no indication anything was supposed to go wrong. He angrily pulled off his cap and scratched at his head, then froze as the gym came into view.

The front was wrecked, cuts, burns and water damage splattering across the walls like some sort of violent Pollock painting.

Then there was the empty-eyed receptionist holding onto four desperately crying girls. Three of the girls were Joey’s age, while the orange-haired didn’t even look old enough to wipe her ass, but was probably around six in reality and fully capable of doing so.

Joey simply stood there, looking at the newly orphaned kids, cap held in his hands.

The receptionist eventually noticed him, gave him a teary eyed look and waved him over.

Joey stood there, frozen, wanting to run far far away before eventually sighing and plodding forward with legs that felt heavier than lead.

“Thank you for rushing out after him,” the receptionist said kindly when he finally reached the estrogen-heavy group.

“Fat load of good that did,” Joey snorted, clenching his fists.

“Joey,” Daisy suddenly said, turning around, eyes more red than a tomato and a waterfall of tears fully show-casing her talent as a water-type specialist.

“I’m sorry,” Joey muttered, heavy guilt gripping his heart like the fist of a titan.

He could have found a way to implicate Giovanni. Fabricate evidence if he had too.

He could have hunted the rockets like the animals they were long before any of this had occurred.

He’d never thought too much about why Misty didn’t seem to have any parents in the anime and how she had a father here.

Now he knew.

Now he knew the price of inaction.

A small fist suddenly appeared in front of him, under the eyes that were too stuck looking at the ground to look at the victims of his weakness.

The childish fist opened, revealing a small tear shaped blue badge.

“Here,” Daisy said weakly. “He would have wanted you to have this. It was an amazing battle.”

“What’s the fucking point?” Joey asked weakly, looking down at the cascade badge.

A loud sob escaped Daisy’s mouth. “There’s no fucking point, just take it!” she suddenly screamed, free hand going up to grip her blonde hair and pull at it in a manner that looked rather painful.

Joey snatched the badge, looked into the girl’s eyes.

Wondered for a second if he should take a few forward to envelop her in a hug.

A body suddenly hit his back and he was flung forward at Daisy, instinctually wrapping his arms around her so as not to fall.

“Butterfree,” his Pokemon said disparagingly behind him as his hands became full of crying Daisy.

The other three kids stayed with the receptionist. All the while the sun slowly made its way across the sky and dipped below the horizon, casting Cerulean and its wreck of a river bank in a golden hue, before turning pink, before turning dark.

-/-

A strong gust of wind ruffled Joey’s brown hair in a way that would have been pleasant had the thoughts beneath his brow not been so heavy.

He pulled out the badge case from his backpack while sitting on that green hill on the north of Cerulean.

Eight badges gleamed in the sun which refused to be covered by clouds and rain as the mood of the city should have long dictated.

“What a joke,” the trainer complained quietly, slamming the badge case shut and putting it away again.

“If I hadn’t.” He paused. “If I hadn’t knocked out so many of his Pokemon…”

The result wouldn’t have changed much.

King had been standing right next to his personal team as he’d been assassinated. Assassinated for accidentally killing a Rocket Executive during an arrest.

An action somewhat, if not completely and utterly identical to how Joey had killed three Rocket members during what he’d barely been pretending was an arrest, but had rather been an execution.

The rangers had long since dispersed, having been replaced by the more specialised first response forces comprising therapists, doctors and construction workers.

The city had already almost returned back to its previous gleam, for all that some of its citizens were still walking around with bandages.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do?” Joey wondered quietly.

He’d killed those Rockets. There might be some retaliation coming his way.

However, he’d also gone to the effort of confirming that several of the Rockets riding the Golbat enraging the Gyarados had also been killed during the super hurricane unleashed by the gang of Pidgeot.

The death count of the incident was 13. King and five civilians crushed by falling rubble caused by the Hyper Beams and other similar incidents. Seven Rockets. Joey had taken down three, the rangers four.

The question now was if the particular position which had access to the file describing his accidental triple homicide was infiltrated or not, or if Team Rocket cared about the three grunts they’d lost to retaliate. After all, attacking a city like that, they must have known there would be casualties. It would have been completely delusional to think otherwise.

“What was the fucking point?” he wondered quietly, tearing through the grass at his feet and starting to create a small ball of fibre.

Had Team Rocket really just retaliated against the arrests and death caused by King so as to scare future adversaries into being softer.

Sacrificing a few lives to ease future operations?

From a purely pragmatic perspective the whole thing didn’t make a lot of sense.

After all, people might be more scared of Rocket in the future, but there was also a new task force announced specifically to hunt down the now aptly named terrorist organisation.

He scowled.

Well, maybe it did make sense.

After all, the leader of the task force was the leader of the Viridian Gym.

Giovanni.

Joey hadn’t been able to hold back anymore. He’d sent an anonymous tip to all the agencies he could reasonably reach, telling them about the fact that Giovanni was the leader of Team Rocket.

If he’d had any proof he would have stepped forward himself.

Unfortunately that was not the case.

He fingered the lone Pokeball at his belt, before sighing and summoning his fire-type.

The only one of his Pokemon that didn’t need a check up at the Pokecenter. The pokecenter that had finally restarted normal operations. Three days after the attack.

Grass burned and the air sweltered around the slug’s body.

“Ma, ma, ma,” Slugma slowly said while shaking her head.

“You’re calling me a hothead?” Joey asked sarcastically.

The slug shrugged her non-existent shoulders. “Lulu.”

“I’m well aware that criminal behaviour is something that can only be efficiently combated by a change of public policy,” Joey said with a scowl. “But it’s a bit hard to keep a clear head when faced with degenerates like that trying to kill you and gloating about how they’ll escape any jail.”

“Slugmaaaa.”

“The world does work in mysterious ways, I agree,” Joey said, before sighing. “Unfortunately, for all that I followed the wise advice of never dealing an enemy a small wound, it seems we might have to abscond into the wilderness for a while to let the, uh, heat cool down a bit.”

“Slug, slug, slug.”

Joey raised an eyebrow. “So you agree with me that it was probably the best decision. That’s quite cold-blooded of you.”

“Sluggggg!”

“You’re right, those who live by the blade die by the blade. They forfeited their right to live the moment they attempted to infringe on ours.”

“Sssssss!”

“You spit on their graves?” Joey asked curiously.

Slugma nodded viciously.

Joey looked down at the ground with wide eyes. “Jesus,” he muttered. “It’s good Blaine gave me one of his hardliners, this could have been a much harder conversation…”

“Sluuuuuuuusluu.”

Joey’s head whipped up. “Wait, what, your father’s corpse shall also lay at your feet one day?” he asked in a shocked voice.

Slugma gave him an offended look. “Slughguggggg,” she blubbered.

“Oh, right, not corpse, defeated body. You’re trying to tell me that everyone eventually harvests the seeds they sow.” Joey shook his head and stood up. “Let’s ditch this place before someone comes to claim the hit on our heads, huh?” he asked rhetorically, before pausing and looking around with shifty eyes. “Not that we did anything of course.”

Slugma empathically nodded her head. “Slug ug ug ug.”

‘Not that we did anything, of course.’

-/-

It was on days like this, assailed as he was by many complex emotions that Joey regretted being too educated to simply pretend like feelings didn’t exist so he could bottle everything up and ruin his life in an appropriately severe midlife crisis involving motorcycles, a stripper named Candy and five bricks of cocaine.

“I’m just too fucking good for this world,” Joey cursed after he’d collected his team from the Pokecenter.

“Took the words right out of my mouth!” Jessie complained from behind the counter with her hands on her hips.

“No need to scream, Nurse Joy,” Joey muttered.

Jessied wagged her finger at him, the Happiny propped up on a chair next to her mimicking the gesture. “I’m only helping so Nurse Joy can focus on the critical cases created by the attack,” she said imperiously. “Call me Nurse Joy again and you’ll be needing a doctor!”

“Alright, alright, future coordinator queen of the universe Jessie it is then,” Joey joked.

Jessie for her part suddenly sighed, deflating like a balloon, domineering body posture disappearing. “You’re leaving?” she asked in a small voice.

“Gotta dip,” Joey said with a resolute nod. “Go under for a few months, participate in the conference then leave this region. Ain’t a good time for someone who… well, I already told you what happened.” He looked around suspiciously, making sure nobody was listening in.

Thankfully the Pokecenter was empty.

Shockingly enough, nobody was really feeling like battling in Cerulean right now. The gym was closed and the public battlegrounds were more deserted than most deserts. 

“It’s alright,” Jessie said with a sigh, then she reached out a hand over the counter and took Joey’s hand in hers. She locked eyes with him. “Stay safe, alright?” she said resolutely.

“As safe as a baby in a Chansey enclosure,” Joey promised her before giving a somewhat un-enthusiastic smile. “I didn’t want things to go this way,” he promised. “But I gotta go.”

“Goodbye,” Jessie muttered.

And just like that, they parted.

-/-

“And that’s just about the gist of it,” Joey explained to the Pokeball-like Pokemon balancing its round form on the back of the wild Lapras Joey had bribed to take them past Cerulean, down Lavender and half-way to Fuschia. “Our whole journey so far, narrated by yours truly.”

“Voltorb,” the electric Pokemon said with a deadpan expression, spinning on its axis to look for the already long gone Cerulean coast. It looked like it was seriously contemplating ditching this disaster of a team and joining its friends at the various power stations across Kanto.

Eventually the Pokemon seemed to come to term with the fact that it was too late to turn back now. Literally, as they were already countless nautical miles away from Cerulean.

“Voltorb,” it said resolutely, seemingly accepting its fate, before spinning back to face Joey. “Vol?” 

“What now?” Joey asked. “Well, we should avoid showing our faces anywhere until we leave the region after the conference. We have offers from two gym leaders to help us train, so it seems that more than anything we’re at the stage where without any distractions we can focus on getting stronger for the conference.”

Voltorb nodded seriously. “Voltorb.”

‘I’ll explode as many times as I need.’ Was what Joey heard, but he chose to interpret it as a sign of commitment rather than an indication that he’d added another highly volatile and odd personality to his team.

He turned around, past the neck of the large Lapras they’d commissioned with more berries than most people could afford if they sold everything they owned. “Onwards, to the future, inevitable as it may be, while we can still shape its appearance with our meagre efforts,” he declared dramatically. Or well, he would have if a wave hadn’t struck half-way through his declaration, filling his mouth with seawater.

What came out of his mouth was thus something more along the lines of. “Blegh blub blub blerggh aghhg hhahghggghh bla.”

But more on that some other time.