Joshua Harsh's Story

Aria flushed, both at falling and the ranger's following question.

She muttered something illegible, before repeating it louder, "I'm fine. Sorry."

She bit her lip and continued, "It's just... Chikorita seemed to be unhappy with something, and I wanted to try and ask what caused it..." She trailed off in embarassment, looking like she wanted to find some hole to hide in at being put in the spotlight like that.

Chikorita felt just as bad as her trainer to be singled out like that. "I'm sorry...", she stuttered, "It's just...", she blushed, before mumbling almost illegibly, What happened to my ride?"

Aria, who had turned to Chikorita at the pokemon's words, was a bit confused however. Chikorita was clearly trying to tell her something, but it seemed the little pokemon had forgotten humans couldn't understand her. Still, her expression softened, as the pokemon obviously felt bad about it.

Chikorita, in the meantime, had clued into her faux pass. And decided on an another method. She carefully took the book that had fallen down on the road with one vine and shook it a little, while gesturing towards Yuu holding her Fennekin with the other.

Even to a little slug like Aria it was pretty clear what Chikorita was trying to say.

"You want to be carried?", she clarified. Inwardly relieved that it was something this simple.

In a softer voice she continued, "I'm so sorry... It just seemed like you didn't have a problem with walking beside me at the start of our journey, and you pretty much immediately jumped out of my arms the one time I did carry you. Although, in hindsight, I can see why... It's just... I... It's...", once more she trailed off, burying her face in her hands.

"I'm a horrible trainer...", she whispered forlornly.

Zane was taken aback at the reaction he'd gotten from Aria and it wasn't until Crush threw him a look that he registered his words may have been a little harsh. When Miki stepped up to play comforter,Zane motioned for Crush to give him some space and the Mudkip gave him a bit more room that he required. Zane still used the period Miki spent talking to drop his back and Ranger vest - revealing the plated vest he wore under it and while he undid the sides - in order to not interrupt Miki he hoisted the monstrous load off his shoulders and onto the ground. Zane only just managed to undo the sealing on his gloves by the time Miki finished talking.

"One of the first things they tell you in Ranger Academy," Zane made a point to look at everyone's face before continuing. "Is that the first time something goes wrong: you fail, you identified a problem. If the same thing happens a second time:you solved a symptom to the actual problem. If it happens a third time: you misunderstood the problem. However if it happens a fourth time: you fundamentally failed to understand the problem - it also goes without saying of course that accidents do happen."

Zane made a point to get closer to the main body of the group this time since he didn't intend to do this kind of talk a second time.

" The second thing, is communication - the biggest mistakes are a Trainer or Pokemon not paying full attention to what's going on, and the second is not clearly getting their point across. Usually the two happen at the same time and result...accidents like this."To punctuate his sentence, Zane took of the glove that didn't have Pokeballs attached to it and held out his palm to be seen. The hand in question was obviously heavily burned,scarred and was clearly permanently damaged beyond full repair. With his other hand, Zane slowly worked open the front of his uniform while letting his injury sink in. When he got his uniform open, he slipped the ungloved hand out of the sleeve - baring the metal forearm guard and a heavily scarred torso. In particular one on his side stood out due to a strange color. Zane promptly pointed at it.

"This one I got during a supervised outing in my second Academy year. The senior used a new Pokemon to act as guard while giving a lesson on plants and other ecosystem stuff. While we had our noses in notebooks, no one caught it signalling a Seviper in the brush. I got nicked by the tail blade for this... after it tore through the upperclassman like paper." Zane made a second attempt to look everyone in the face again for his conclusion.

"Point being: be careful and pay attention to those little details now since you're just getting started to form good habits. Contrary to popular belief: the best trainers aren't the ones who win every battle or make no mistakes. The best trainers are the one who can make sure everyone gets home safely despite everything going wrong." Sadly, the environmental sealing wouldn't let Zane simply slip his arm back into his sleeve to finish. Instead he had to undo the sealing on his waist, resulting in the top falling slack enough to bare half his back; baring his tattoo of Arceus and the other 'Legendary' Pokemon all within massive draconic frame...and a clear thin cut going straight down his spine. However the slack let him get his arm in the sleeve, reglove his hand and reclose the environmental seals in proper order before he began to put the rest of his gear back on.

Yuu watched everything go on in front of her but said nothing. Her Fennekin slept as she carried it. She frowned a little while she listened to the ranger talk. It seemed that everyone had at least some kind of scar, even Yuu had one- in a way. She was quiet for the time being, considering that she didn't know what to say or she just didn't want to say anything.

Fennekin was rather warm, and his body heat gave Yuu warmth as well. She kept her empty expression on the ground as she continued to listen to whatever the ranger was talking about. She thought for a while, and it came to her that she has had her Pokemon longer than anyone else in the group so far. But that didn't necessarily mean she knew any more than they did. Fennekin hadn't battled yet, so he was most likely still as experienced as the other Pokemon.

While carefully holding Fennekin with one arm, she reached a hand up and removed her glasses. Her vision worsened at this, but she wasn't too worried about it, even though everything she looked at was fuzzy. She slipped her glasses onto her head and continued walking, now holding Fennekin with both arms.

Aria stiffened a little when Miki hugged her. She was really not used to them, aside from some playful tackle-hugs by the twins. What was the last time she had been comforted this way? She couldn't remember... Her father was always busy, the relationship with her sister too bitchy and the twins were too young.

She didn't say anything to Miki in return, her words lost for the moment.

After that Zane started talking. Aria winced at what he was describing. Even though she's heard such horror stories before, with him showing his scars like that, it became more real.

"Okay", she said softly, although she was still slightly uneasy that she had caused this much trouble for anyone.

Chikorita in the meantime, watched these proceedings with wide eyes, not sure as to what to say. How had it turned out like this? She had merely wanted a ride... She was uncomfortable with this blatant showing of emotion. This was a mon-eat-mon world, had even been back at the breeder's place. To show weakness like this...

On one hand, it was inconceivable. On the other the companionship seemed... nice?

While she had never needed anyone before, she, for a moment, wondered if she could create such a thing too.

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Miki smiled but was a bit confused by the Ranger's sudden change of pace. He began walking ahead rather quickly. Miki hadn't even told him where she planned on going. If he was going to stay with them walking ahead at a quickened pace like that wasn't going to help him any. Still she let it go and patted Blaze on the head as they walked on.

Twenty minutes passed by very quickly for Miki and before they knew it they had arrived at what she called her "picnic spot."

It was a near perfectly flat clearing in the trees around 30 meters across. The trees were just tall enough for the sun to cast a shadow on around half the clearing at any one time while the rest was open sunlight. A small creek was nearby and could be heard, but not seen. Soft and short grass coupled with a few scattered flowers gave it a sweet aroma when the wind picked up every now and then. And lastly were a few well shaped boulders with flat tops which would be perfect as makeshift tables for eating meals. Nearby in the promised tree line was a rather thin albeit dense line of underbrush which would create a perfect wind break to help them avoid the chills of the night air.

Miki made her way towards the clearing's gathering of boulders and sat down in front of one of the smaller ones where she set her pack down and turned towards the others.

"I'll get started on gathering firewood. I've never made a campfire that was meant to last through the night though so I am afraid I have to ask one of you to make it in my stead." She said with an apologetic bow.

"Well, I'm off! We'll be back in a few minutes." She said as she and Blaze took off into the nearby trees.

Zane spent the trip to the camp site doing something of a sweep of a large arc in front of the other trainers. It was a way of getting a view to spot potential Pokemon while somewhat extending his view a bit further from the group for landmarks and somewhat allowing a view behind the group. When they finally got to the spot, he was forced to admit that the place was much butter than the location he'd intended to use. At Miki's words of not knowing how to do a long term fire...Zane wasn't overly shocked since the knowledge was rather lacking to the inexperienced.

"Easily done," however he wasn't certain how much the girl actually heard when she ran off. Somewhat sighing, Zane turned his gaze to the rest while again dropping his pack and taking up his axe. He faced the rest of the group while flipping the handle over for someone to take it.

" If you know how, good - anyone that doesn't gets to learn now. At any rate, one of you take this and try pushing the handle to the ground and stand straight without the head attached. If you can't, it'll change how we set up the fire a bit. Rule of thumb: you want two logs per person from standing dead wood ideally of 3 feet to 3.5 feet in length per person using the fire. The logs in question will be about 1 inch of thickness per hour you intend to have the fire burn. Long burning low maintenance fires aren't the same fires you typically see during camp outs." Zane flatly yet quickly recounted a bit of knowledge of the fire he intended to use. Considering he had no intention of holding everyone's hand their whole journey so Zane intended to explain and demonstrate more than actually do all the work himself despite it being faster.

Alden's made his approach toward the unnatural noises slowly. As much as he wanted company, he knew better than to rush headlong into danger. As he approached he started making out a light, and a few figures were able to be made out around said light. He was prepared for a fight if need be, but it quickly became apparent that most likely wasn't going to be needed.

A small Pokemon whom he was unfamiliar with ran In his direction It seemed friendly enough, so Alden crouched down and put out his hand towards the small friendly Pokemon as he approached. The fox like Pokemon didn't even bother sniffing it or trying to familiarize with him, and pushed itself into his hand, making noises of obvious content. Alden smiled at its friendliness, and stood up to look up at the figures approaching him.

One was a young woman, who seemed to be the small Pokemons trainer. She had a strange walk to her. She was dressed in black, and a blanket draped over her shoulder. She didn't seem comfortable with the outdoors. The strange walk seemed natural in a way. It was something she'd probably been with for a while. Maybe that's what led to her seeming discomfort with the outdoors. The other figure was a man much larger than himself, but seemingly of a similar age. He had darker skin and short hair, practically shaved. Alden was proud of his toned body, but this man very obviously was stronger than him. The man approached first, after "pinging" him as he'd found out it was called. He introduced himself as Zane, a Pokemon Ranger, and apologized for pinging him, chalking it up to stranger danger.

"Alden. I started my journey today. You folks the trainers Leingod told me about?" Alden asked, as he lowered his latern and dimmed it. He looked around Zane to get a look at the rest of the group, who he couldn't quite make out yet.

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Miki spent almost fifteen full minutes gathering firewood with Blaze by her side. Hopefully the others would have built the fire so all she had to do was load the wood and let Blaze light it up. She was not very good with outdoorsy style things like this. Camping in a pre-built camping shelter? She could do that. Build her own fire, set up her own tent, find food growing in the wild? Not so much.

She was grateful to have others around. At the very least the Ranger would know what to do. They were trained for that right?

Once she and Blaze had gathered enough firewood they made their way back to camp and found an interesting sight along the way. Another Trainer had wandered through the area and was asking about them. With her arms full of firewood and Miki just barely able to see over the pile, she tried her best to move her head so she could see and speak while being heard.

"Good evening!" She called.

"Some of us are fresh from Professor Leingod's lab, as you guessed. My name is Miki Saegusa! It's nice to meet you!" She said, turning her body so her whole face could be seen as she smiled sweetly at the newcomer.

Zane shrugged noncommittally at Alden's question, it wasn't wrong but he didn't quite feel like confirming anything on the way back to camp. However his response proved to be of virtually no consequence as Miki blurted out said confirmation shortly after Yuu's rather muted introduction. Rather mechanically, he took the wood she'd gathered from her arms while returning to the general area of where he'd tossed his axe to start sorting through what she'd grabbed. Zane was actually surprised to find he really didn't end up tossing aside much of the pile for being too green for a good burn.

Zane grabbed his axe and began evening out lengths a bit and then finally spoke again. "Someone grab some string, we'll need to tie most of this into bundles roughly the width of a pot: small stuff inside, big stuff outside. Light the inside of the bundle and you've got a personal stove and heater for somewhere from two ta five hours if you want low maintenance. Otherwise you'll be stuck having to stoke the fire and get fuel all night." Zane fully straightened before heading to his backpack and dragged out a tent roll that would be snug with even two people in it and quickly began setting it up rather distantly from where he expected most people to set things up. With practiced ease the quick set up tent was up within a minute - slightly longer was the overlaying of the weatherproof tarp over it and the staking down of the whole affair. That being said, Zane still didn't require more than five minutes for the whole affair. After which he again turned his attention back towards the others.

"so who's doing what? If we split things up a bit, we can do everything faster."

Zane shrugged his shoulders in response to Alden's question, which annoyed Alden. Alden could be dismissive at times, but Zane s reaction was a bit rude. Alden didn't think much of it, and let the guy wander off to do his own thing. He felt this guy wasn't really here of his own volition, and if he was he probably wasn't going to be around for long.

As he walked away, another girl emerged from the forest. He scooped the wood out from this girls arms rather abruptly, which she didn't seem to mind, as she came up and greeted him with great enthusiasm. She introduced herself as Miki, and confirmed Alden's question in regards to Leingod. The girl with the strange walk, in charge of the strange Pokemon, tried to shy away from the conversation, but her energetic Pokemon hopped around his legs. She seemingly begrudgingly introduced herself as Yuu.

Alden smiled at the both of them and raised his hand in a sort of greeting. Zane spoke of putting some bundles together to make some fires for overnight. Alden was more than familiar with the sort of process, having spent many nights in the harsh north. Being so used to the cold weather, Alden by no means needed a fire. He was as warm as could be as he was, his shirt and flannel providing him ample warmth. On top of which he had his bivouac with him. The others, Zane excluded, looked like they might need it. Alden strolled over to what seemed to be the center of the area the group declared as theirs for the night, and quickly went thought the process Zane described with a practiced ease, although maybe the bundle was a little too much for the more moderate weather. He quickly pulled some of the extra material out and threw it to the side. He pulled a collapsible hand shovel out and made a very small pit for his soon to be fire, sticking the bundle in and lighting it, being sure to baby the fire to ensure he didn't have to make any additional attempts. The flame took quickly, and Alden strolled over to a close by tree and leaned up against it. He wasn't familiar with these folks, so he decided to let them come to him.

As he sat against the tree, Piplup jumped off his shoulder and mugged at her Pokeball. She had seemingly had enough stimulation at the moment, and Alden was happy to oblige. He gave her a scratch, and then put her back in her Pokeball. He was trying to slowly get her more used to socialization, but wasn't going to force her to be uncomfortable.

Yuu knelt down and gave Fennekin's head a gentle pat. He looked up at her with his red eyes and blinked a few times before suddenly licking her nose. She made a face, but she wasn't disgusted. She just smiled at him and he seemed to have gotten the message that Yuu wanted him to calm down a little. Yuu stood up and went back to the spot she set her backpack. She got out his Pokeball and knelt in front of him. When he saw it, he growled a little, but didn't do anything else.

"Okay Fennekin, time to get inside your ball, okay? You can come out after I help out a little." Fennekin lowered his head and plopped onto his stomach. He gave her another small growl indicating that he didn't want to be inside of his ball. "It won't be very long, I promise." Yuu smiled softly at him, assuring that he'll be okay.

Fennekin didn't move, or look at her. Yuu sighed and returned his Pokeball to her backpack. "Alright, but you can't run under people's feet while they're trying to do things, okay?" Yuu noticed him perk up and then move to sit in front of her normally. He looked as happy as he was before. Yuu stood up and went over to the others, which wasn't far from where she was. Fennekin stayed behind with her things, watching her as she looked for something to help with.

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Miki smiled at everyone and prepared to return to the campsite when her Pokedex began to vibrate. She removed it from her pocket and held it up to see what was going on only to see that the screen was black.

”That’s not supposed to happen.” She said quietly.

As she continued to watch the Pokedex while it vibrated, the screen finally began to glitch out. She tried shutting it off but it wouldn’t turn off. Someone had hacked the Pokedex’s core programming to force it to remain on. Not only that, but everyone else’s Pokedex’s were doing the same thing. For someone to have access to the kind of equipment and skills needed to do this?…

The Pokedex screen flashed a few times before focusing in on the face of an unknown man. It was a cropped shot of only his shoulders and his head, but the top of a red letter could be seen on his shirt. Miki immediately recognized the shade of charcoal gray he was wearing and the shade of red. It had to be Team Rocket. Nobody else wore this kind of color combination.

“Greetings Trainers. Gym Leaders. Elite Four. Pokemon League Champion. And everyone else.” He began.

His voice was chilling and slightly distorted hiding the true timbre of his voice. But whoever he was, he was prepared for some kind of announcement.

“I am a member of Team Rocket, and this is a global announcement for all Trainers of all walks of life… You are in the way, and Team Rocket has resolved to put an end to your kind of interference whenever we deem it necessary.”

Miki nearly dropped the Pokedex in fear but something kept her eyes glued to the screen.

“Observe…” He said.

The camera backed out to reveal a total of four Pokemon Trainers and their Pokemon tied, gagged, and already badly beaten and bloodied.

A young man no more than the 17 year age limit, and he was obviously not very experienced. His Pokemon behind him consisted of a Torchic, Ledyba, and Zigzagoon.

The next was a woman, likely in her early 20’s, who had a Scyther and a Pidgeotto.

Third was another male, probably late 20’s, with a Quilava, Fearow, Kirlia, and a Skorupi.

And last was another young girl who wasn’t even really a Trainer. She was too young. No more than ten years old. Probably only had borrowed her mom or dad’s Pokemon to escort her on a shopping and wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Pokemon with her was a Herdier, and an aged one at that which probably could only handle battling weaker Pokemon at its age.

How could they do this?

“These Trainers all defied Team Rocket, and in accordance with our new policy they are to be executed. Normally this would be done silently and with discretion. But today, to make the point as clear as possible, they are to be executed here and now before everyone’s very eyes.”

He walked over to the young man and pointed a handgun to the side of his head.

“This young man had the audacity to tell one of our own that he was a coward. That he only used and abused Pokemon because he had lost his humanity and sense of purpose… This young man was a fool.”

The gun was fired a split second later. The opposing side of the boy’s skull exploded outwards spilling blood, bone, and brain matter all over the ground in full view of the camera. A drop of blood even hit the camera and was slowly and unceremoniously wiped clean before the Team Rocket member continued.

“The boy’s Pokemon as well seemed to support their master’s remarks. This one in particular,” he said, holding up the Torchic by the feathers on its head. “Decided to use its Ember attack on the operative in question… Like its master, it was a fool.”

He put the gun away and grabbed the Torchi’s body with his free hand twisting its head 180 degrees around. The previously squirming fire bird ceased moving in his hands and was dropped to the ground and kicked away as casually as a piece of garbage.

“These two as well seem to have shared their friend and master’s sentiments. I cannot tell you how much such idiocy irks us as an organization.”

Two gunshots were fired with the boy’s Ledyba and Zigzagoon dropping to the ground and blood gathering around their bodies. Shot through the chest, likely the heart, death had been all but instantaneous. The Ledyba was still alive. But with blood leaking like that the poor thing would’t be alive for very long.

The Team Rocket member walked over to the woman and looked to her Pokemon with a look that said he was impressed.

“This young woman had a rather surprising talent for capturing potentially dangerous Pokemon. This Scyther is only one of many. She also owns a Pinser, Steelix, Feraligatr, and a Skarmory… Such a shame that someone so talented had to stand up to her betters in such a rude and forceful manner.”

He pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger. A moment later a hole appeared in her left leg just above the knee causing her to scream behind the gag. Another shot, another hold in the other leg. Another shot, a hole in her left clavicle. Another shot, a hole in her right clavicle.

The Team Rocket member positioned himself in front of her and took aim at her Scyther’s chest and fired the gun. Pressing it against her forehead, it tore through her skull and out the back before entering her Scyther’s chest and exiting the back causing it to fall on the ground in great pain. Scyther wasn’t dead, but it would be soon just like the Ledyba who had recently stopped moving. The Pidgeotto was flailing wildly trying to attack Team Rocket, but with its wings clipped and legs bound it could do nothing more than flail. It was unceremoniously shot in the head a moment later.

Next up was the man and his four Pokemon, and this time the Team Rocket member didn’t even explain what he had done. He simply shot the man and his Pokemon in places which wouldn’t kill them, but would cause them to bleed out together.

And last was the little girl.

Don’t do it you monster… Don’t you dare do it!! Miki screamed in her mind.

Her eyes were overflowing with tears of fear, anger, and helplessness as she watched all of this unfold on the screen. That little girl was no threat to them! If she was brave enough to stand up for herself then that was supposed to be a good thing! Children were supposed to learn strength and courage! They had their whole lives ahead of them to think about their choices and turn themselves into better human beings… He couldn’t do this! He couldn’t!!

The man knelt down next to the girl who’s eyes were as wide as they were capable of going. She was staring at the blood and carnage nearby with eyes devoid of life. She was entering shock. Anyone could see that. If she wasn’t taken to a hospital she’d likely suffer a heart attack or some kind of respiratory distress from her erratic heart beat and lack of ability to properly control her breath.

“This poor girl… She was just on her way to see her grandparents. She borrowed her parent’s Herdier for protection. Such an old and decrepit thing could barely hold its own against a Pidgey at this point.” He said, looking back to the dog Pokemon who was angrily growling through the gag at him and trying to break free of its restraints.

“But…” he said ominously.

“This girl dared to speak to a member of Team Rocket calling him a monster, thief, braggart, and of all things she also had the nerve to call him “evil.””

He pointed the gun at the girl’s head but she was too mentally far gone to even notice. She only continued to stare at the blood and gore beside her as the blood of everyone killed thus far gathered around her legs.

“Team Rocket is, despite all that you may have seen and heard, a noble organization dedicated to the protection and expansion of the human race. Detractors are dealt with severely because in this world that we will help create there is no room for opposition. The world needs order, stability, and efficiency. The human race must band together and evolve to achieve this, and the only way to do that is to adhere to the order that the leaders of Team Rocket are now bringing to light.”

The camera zoomed in on him slightly, putting the girl out of frame.

“This is your only warning, Trainers of the world. Submit willingly and prepare for a new world order, as well as an evolution in the relationship between humanity and Pokemon… But stand in the way of this order and vision, and you may prepare for oblivion.”

A single shot was fired from his gun, but the camera never panned down to the little girl. It instead went dark leaving her ultimate fate to the imagination. But given that he had not faltered in killing the others Miki had few to no doubts that he had killed the little girl and was soon to kill her Herdier as well.

Despite the blackout his voice continued on.

“The future begins now…” He said in an ominous and low voice.

The transmission was then cut and Miki’s Pokedex finally turned itself off and fell from her hand to the ground at her feet.

Miki dropped to her knees as tears cascaded down her face and cheeks like overflowing rivers. She could not breathe. What she had just seen… It was beyond horrible. How could he do that? How could they do that? Film something so casually as if it was actually justified.

But they did.

It was obvious Team Rocket believed in its delusions of order and efficiency. They believed that they were some kind of higher power that was not to be ignored or argued against. They believe they were some kind of godly force that was meant to bring the human race to a new level of existence.

It was painfully clear to Miki now just how evil and dangerous they truly were. They believed in what they were doing and would kill for it. They’d even kill a helpless little girl who represented no threat to enforce their ideals. Miki felt so powerless during all of this.

Blaze was nearby and walked over to her patting her shoulder. He hadn’t seen what happened but he heard it. It didn’t mean much to him though. A few bangs on the little red device and suddenly his new Trainer was crying and scared out of her mind. He didn’t know what to do. All he could do was tap her shoulder and cry weakly at her.

Miki’s arms shot out and wrapped themselves around Blaze holding him close to her. She rested her cheek against the top of his head and wept bitterly as she promised to always protect him. No matter what she would protect him. She wouldn’t let anyone hurt him. She refused. She refused to end up like those poor souls who were just killed in a global broadcast of Team Rocket’s wicked scheme.

Surely enough it was a global broadcast. Every television, Pokedex, computer, radio, and any electronic device capable of relaying the message was hijacked specifically for that purpose. Everyone either heard or saw it regardless of whether or not they wanted to.

The question now was… “What would the Pokemon Trainers of the world do about this?”