Chapter Seven

CHAPTER SEVEN

"You need to go to the police, Chloe," Professor Oak’s voice instructed me from the speakers of my Pokedex, his face stern on the high-resolution screen. "You need to report what happened."

"What’s the point?" I replied dully. "It’s not like they’ll do anything."

"I don’t know what law enforcement is like where you come from, but I assure you that in Kanto we take these kinds of incidents very seriously," Oak said.

I was laying on my back on my Pokémon Center bed, my Pokedex held up above me. I’d woken almost an hour ago and after feeding Ace and taking him out for a quick bathroom break, I’d decided to test out the device’s video phone and call my sponsor, relating the events of the past few days to him.

"Forget it, man, all cops are bastards," I said. "Doesn’t matter the world, I don’t talk to cops."

Oak frowned down at me.

"I am going to reach out to one of my contacts in the Viridian P.D and have this matter looked into," he said.

I sighed but knew better than to argue. I’d learned pretty quickly that it was easier to just let Gary Oak be Gary Oak. Most of the time, anyway.

"Yeah, okay," I said to him. "Thanks."

"You are quite welcome," he said, his frown transforming into a smile. "You’re planning to visit the Trainer’s School today?"

Now it was my turn to frown.

"No?" I said, making my answer a question. "I was going to hit up the Gym and register today."

Oak shook his head at me.

"You didn’t read the Trainer’s Handbook I gave you, did you?" he said.

"I mean, I skimmed it," I said, scratching my nose. "It was just so boring, alright? I already know my type match ups and how Gyms work."

"Clearly not," Oak smirked. "Or you’d know that Gyms aren’t anything like they are in your games. Haven’t been for decades."

Ah, shit.

"What do you mean?" I asked, but Oak was already ending the call.

"I recommend you do some studying," he said before the screen went blank.

A moment later, my Pokedex pinged as a new message arrived.

Freaking Oak, man.

With a resigned sigh, I rolled over onto my stomach, pulled Ace in close for a cuddle and started scrolling through Trainer’s Handbook PDF Oak had just sent.

—

I’m not sure how long I spent reading and revising my plans for the next several weeks, but I was rudely interrupted by a sharp rap at the door.

"Hello?" I called, not getting up from the bed. "Who is it?"

I had until noon to check out and that was still hours away, so it was unlikely to be Pokémon Center staff.

"Kanto Bureau of Investigations," came the muffled response through the door. "Please open the door, Miss Luxford."

Kanto Bureau of Investigations? Oak had called the Feds?!

I scrambled from the nest of sheets and blankets I’d somehow wound about myself and cracked the door open. A woman in a black suit stood in the hall, a badge hanging on a lanyard about her neck.

"Miss Luxford?" the woman asked.

"That’s right," I said slowly, suspicious of the woman. "Is something wrong?"

"Miss Luxford, my name is Special Detective Jennings, may I come in?" the woman said.

"Um, I guess?" I said, unable to think of a reason to say no.

Pulling the door open, I stepped back into the room and let her enter, getting a proper look at her. Tall, confident, mid-50s, black suit jacket over white dress shirt tucked into pressed black trousers and polished black shoes. Special Detective Jennings was the perfect example of a plain clothes cop from about a million movies and television shows. Except for the deep blue-green hair. And we’re not talking your average dye job, but full blown anime hair. Natural as the day she was born.

I couldn’t help but notice how her eyes instantly took in everything in the small room before snapping back to me. And my tattoos, revealed to the world by my simple tank top. She withdrew a leatherbound notepad from her jacket pocket and flipped it open.

"Miss Luxford, I received a call earlier this morning from your employer Professor Gary Oak of the Pallet Town Pokémon Research Institute," the Detective began. "Reporting that you had been accosted by two men and your life threatened some time yesterday evening, is that correct?"

"Uh, ye-Yeah, I mean, yes, that’s correct," I stammered, trying not to stare at her hair.

"Can you please describe the events of the incident to me, in your own words?" she asked. "Starting with your arrival in Viridian City."

"Are you Officer Jenny?" I asked instead, still staring at her hair.

She sighed and closed her notepad.

"As I said, my name is Special Detective Jennings," she said. "My first name is Jennifer, but I’d prefer it if you used either my surname or my rank."

"Oh my god. You’re Officer Jenny!" I said in a tight whisper, my eyes going wide. "No freaking way!"

"Let's get this over with," Detective Jennings said, placing her hands on her hips and sighing. "No, I am not a secret Indigo League or Team Rocket clone. No, I don't come from an extended family of lookalikes, and no, I did not secretly plot with missing Grand-Champion Red to do whatever nutjob conspiracy the losers on the PokeNet claim this week."

"I had such a crush on you growing up!" I blurted.

"Oh," Detective Jennings said, looking uncomfortable. "Thank you?"

My brain caught up with my mouth and I felt my face begin to blaze.

"Oh my God, I didn't-" I started stammering.

Detective Jennings coughed into her hand, clearing her throat awkwardly.

"It's fine," she said. She gave me a forced smile. "It's actually a nice change from the usual crap I hear. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to hear your account of yesterday's events."

Unable to meet the older woman's eyes, I walked her through the events of the day before, doing my best to recall anything I thought might be important.

"And what, exactly, was your business with Professor Florey?" she asked, scrawling notes in her notepad with a pencil stub.

I shook my head.

"I can't tell you that," I told her.

She scowled at her notes but didn't comment on my answer.

"Do you think you can actually catch the guys?" I asked.

"Allow me to be honest with you, Miss Luxford," she replied, putting her notepad away. "I am no longer with the Viridian P.D. This kind of investigation is, frankly, a waste of my time, but I am here as a favour to an old friend and because I was already in the city on an investigation of my own."

"Oh."

"However," she continued. "The descriptions you've provided of the two men in the alley match that of two persons of interest to my case. Tell me, what do you know of the Kanto Liberation Front?"

"Um, not much. I heard their protest got attacked by a Magmar but that's about it," I told her. "Wait, does that mean you were never going to try and help me?"

"Help you with what, exactly, Miss Luxford," Detective Jennings asked with a raised eyebrow. "You are no longer in danger, there is no indication that the incident was anything but random, and no reason to believe the men that attacked you will attempt to seek you out. Nothing was even stolen. I would have passed your report on to the local authorities and promptly forgotten you."

"Typical," I sneered, growing angry. "I told Oak all cops are the same. Look, I have to get ready for day, are we done here?"

Special Detective Jennifer Jennings gazed at me cooly for several seconds before sighing deeply.

"You remind me of her," she said. "I think I understand now why Blue wanted us to meet."

When I didn't say anything, she blew her breath out and laughed.

"I feel like breakfast," she said. "You feel like breakfast, kid?"

—

The Pokémon Center cafeteria wasn't the fanciest eats, but it was cheap and it was clean.

Leaving Ace and I to find us a table, Special Detective Jennings made her way through the loose throng of trainers and their Pokémon to grab us some food. Her treat, she had insisted.

I found a table by a large window on the far side from the long self serve counter with a good view of the public training fields that ran behind the Pokémon Centre and made myself comfortable while Ace curled up at my feet.

I wasn't sure what her game was yet, but Jennings had been nothing if not honest with me so far, and I wasn't about to turn down a free meal. Before long the Detective returned, balancing two plastic trays loaded with steaming breakfast items.

"Pokémon Centre food isn't about to win any prizes, but they know how to feed a hungry trainer," she said, setting down the trays and taking a seat opposite me and digging in.

Toast, scrambled eggs, something resembling bacon and a paper cup of coffee sat on my tray beside cutlery and napkins. My stomach growled and I followed the Detective's example and started eating.

"So," Detective Jennings started, shoving a piece of toast loaded with eggs in her mouth. "You learn about me in school or something?"

School? Oh, right. How much could I say?

"Uh, no, not school," I said, swallowing a bite of my own food. "You were in a cartoon, when I was a kid, um, about Red."

"Ah, that explains it," she said, nodding. "I lost track of how many movies and shows they made about us back in the day."

Around us the cafeteria buzzed with conversations, trainers chatting with one another, discussing plans, debating Pokémon. No one paid us any attention.

"There were lots of Officer Jennys though," I told her, hesitantly, not wanting to set her off again. "One in every town."

She snorted.

"One stupid joke and it has followed me for decades," she said. "Red never let it go, thought it was the funniest thing in the world."

I took another bite of my breakfast and waited for her to say more. Everyone back in Pallet Town had been very reluctant to talk about Red, aka Ash Ketchum, and the details online basically boiled down to a barebones plot summary of FireRed with a handful of elements from the anime.

"I was assigned to checkpoint duty when we first met," she continued. "Though I didn't realise it till much later."

Her gaze drifted past me to the window and some memory only she could see.

"After the excitement with Team Rocket attacking a Pokémon Centre, I decided I wanted to do more than sit in a booth and I put in a transfer for Vermilion," she said. "I thought I was going out into the world to make a difference but I ended up spending most of my time breaking up drunken brawls between sailors and chasing a band Squirtles. Until she showed up, that is."

Under the table Ace begged for some of my breakfast despite already having been fed earlier, and I absently dropped him my bacon, engrossed in the Detective's story.

"Children had gone missing from one of the wealthier neighbourhoods in the city and I'd been sent to canvas the area. Grunt work while the real officers followed their leads.

When she showed up looking into a job board posting about lethargic Pokémon I initially dismissed her, but she seemed convinced the two events were linked.

Long story short, we ended up tracking the source of both mysteries to a Pokémon cult misusing a Hypno to try and receive visions or some such."

I blinked. I knew that story. Or one very similar. In the first season of the anime, Ash and friends had helped Officer Jenny find missing kids that had been hypnotised into thinking they were Pokémon. I remembered it because it was also the episode where Misty captured her Pysduck.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

It seemed the games weren't the only thing that was made more child friendly.

What. Her?

"Are you talking about Misty?" I asked. "I thought you were telling me about Red."

"Misty? The old Cerulean Gym Leader?" said Detective Jennings, puzzled. "What does she have to do with anything? Red helped me find the missing kids."

"Champion Red, yeah?" I asked. "The same Red that came from Pallet and was rivals with Gary? Also known as Ash Ketchum?"

Detective Jennings cocked her head and stared at me.

"Yes, that's who I'm talking about," she confirmed. "Ashley Ketchum from Pallet Town. Am I missing something?"

"Ash was a girl?!" I exclaimed, nearly shouting.

"What? Of course she was!" said Detective Jennings, eying me suspiciously. "You know, I looked you up in our system this morning, before coming here. Who could be so important that THE Gary Oak would call in a favour for, I thought. And you know what I found? Nothing."

I opened my mouth to make up some excuse but she cut me off.

"I don't mean nothing as in no criminal record, which is strange enough with the ink you’re sporting, but I mean nothing at all. You don’t exist," she leaned forward in her seat, peering into my eyes. "See, our system isn't linked to the League's system. Sure, the civilian government works closely with the League, but we know better than to trust each other with everything."

"I'm sure it's just a mistake," I said, my breakfast forgotten. I took out my Pokedex and opened my ID. "See, Chloe Luxford from Pallet."

"Chloe Luxford," she repeated. "No birth certificate, no health records, no mailing address, no tax details. So who are you really, Miss Luxford? Why are you so special? And where are you from that you know who Red and I are but, you didn’t even know her gender."

I pushed my chair back with an ear splitting screech and jumped to my feet, causing Ace to yelp in surprise.

"Thank you for breakfast, Detective, I really have to go now, " I said.

Grabbing Ace from the floor, I fled the cafeteria.

—

After a brief stop in my room to collect my pack, change my clothes and confirm I hadn't forgotten anything, I left the Pokémon Center and made my way north towards the Viridian Gym and its attached Trainer School.

Breakfast with Special Detective Jennings had shaken me and I could feel the icy fingers of a panic attack creeping up on me, but I pushed it aside. I had too much to do. I could break down later. Right now, I had to stay busy.

I'd focused my reading this morning on two topics. First, obtaining my Pokémon Trainer's Licence and second, the issue of the feral Mareep riding at my belt. Of the two, Mareep was the more pressing.

Though Pokémon needed no water while in the stasis of their PokeBall, energy was still slowly lost over time and had to be replaced via eating, and she hadn't eaten anything since I'd captured her three days earlier. According to my research, most people advised euthanizing feral Pokémon, discarding them as a lost hope, but I'd managed to find a handful of reputable sources claiming otherwise.

But I couldn't do it alone. I needed the help only a Pokémon Gym could offer.

—

Viridian Gym was an impressive building. Gone was the original single storey limestone and black obsidian edifice that had been the Gym under Giovanni’s tenure, replaced by a fashionably modern three-story structure of glass and steel that sprawled across an entire city block.

Pokémon Gyms, I'd read this morning, were first and foremost, the strongholds of a city's most powerful trainers and protectors - the Gym Leader and their disciples, the Gym trainers.

Gym Leaders, despite dozens of games proving otherwise, were more than just bosses to be beaten by a ten year old protagonist. Backed by the Pokémon League and working closely with the civilian government, they had a responsibility to defend their chosen city from any dangers posed by Pokemon both inside and out the city walls.

Wild Pokémon, I’d learned working on Oak’s ranch, hate anything artificial. Buildings, roads, walls. Given the chance, wild Pokémon will go out of their way to destroy them, and on more than one occasion, entire swarms of the monsters have attacked human settlements. It was why the property had to be so thoroughly patrolled each day.

And it wasn't just infrastructure that they targeted. Loud sounds, electric lights, engines, or anything mechanical was likely to draw in wild Pokemon. There was a reason firearms were so closely regulated and mass manufacturing so scarce, and that reason was Pokémon.

So, if a town or a city wanted to not only survive but ultimately thrive, it needed a strong Gym to rely on.

Over time, as the Gym system spread across the Indigo regions, as a way to safely hone both the Gym Leader and their Gym trainers, and to offer travelling trainers a way to prove their strength, Gyms had started offering badges to those that managed to overcome their challenge.

When the Gym system evolved into the Pokémon League, Gyms had become places to be conquered, to travel across a region for and earn Badges from. The more badges one earned, the better the opportunities that would open up to them.

But since no one wanted to see their friends or family going off and getting themselves killed by a wild Pokémon in the hope of earning badges, Gyms opened special schools they named Trainer Schools that would offer a range of courses and services to increase a trainer's odds of survival.

Finally, as casualties continued to rise, these classes became mandatory and the Pokémon Trainers Accreditation Licence was implemented.

"Hi, I've got a recently captured Pokémon I need to tame," I said to the young woman working the Gym's reception.

"Of course Miss, can I have your Trainer ID please?" the receptionist asked.

"I'm on my six week exemption," I explained, handing over my Pokedex, the ID app open.

"Not a problem, what is the species and type of your Pokémon today?" she asked, confirming my details and handing my Pokedex back.

"Mareep," I said. "An Electric-type."

"Will you be needing a Communer?"

I nodded.

"Not a problem, and will that be cash or ‘dex, today?"

I grimaced.

"‘dex," I said, holding out my Pokedex once more.

The receptionist tapped her Pokedex against mine, prompting the familiar chime and the funds were subtracted from my account.

Despite still having two months of my stipend put away, I was going to have to find a way to supplement my income soon if I didn’t want to dip into my savings.

"Great, Jax is free now in Room 3," she said, gesturing to a series of doors running down a hall to my right.

Thanking the woman, I made my way to the indicated door and let myself in. Inside a windowless rectangular room a little larger than my Pokémon Centre room was lined with a number of steel rods sticking out of the walls.

A scruffy looking blonde man in a green Gym trainer uniform sat behind a table with a laptop, a Mr. Mime swinging its legs on an invisible bench beside him. Unlike the one in Pallet Town, this one's face was locked into a permanent goofy grin.

"Miss Luxford?" the man asked, glancing up from his laptop as I walked in. "I'm Jax, I'll be your Communer today."

Communers were another aspect of life in Pokémon World that the games and anime never covered.

Capturing a Pokémon was only the first step in adding it to your team, the real challenge was convincing the captured monster to join you and follow your orders. While Pokemon could learn the basics of human language over time, Pokémon weren’t human. They also weren't animals either though, instead, falling somewhere in between the two.

In order to create a relationship with your Pokémon so you could work together to reach a mutual goal and you didn't end up as their lunch, you had to understand what a Pokémon wanted and try to offer them a reason to trust that you could help them achieve that. This level of communication was much more difficult than giving commands or discussing strategy, but not impossible and many trainers successfully negotiate with their Pokemon just fine on their own.

For those that may have been captured against their will, or ferals like Mareep, that's where Communers came in. By telepathically connecting with a Pokémon the Communer had a close bond with, such as Jax’s Mr.Mime, they were able to bridge that gap between human and Pokemon.

"Hi Jax, yep, I'm Chloe," I answered him, looking around the room.

"First time in a Taming Room?" he asked. "Don't worry, I'll be there every step if anything goes wrong. Please, insert your Pokeball here."

I placed Mareep’s Pokeball in the recessed bowl shaped slot set into the wall he indicated and a red light shot from the ceiling, projecting a red ring of light slightly larger than Mareep in the centre of the room.

"As you no doubt know, or you wouldn't be here, Pokeballs catch Pokémon - but they can’t force Pokémon to obey you," Jax explained. "You need to give your Pokémon a reason to be on your team, otherwise, it will run away, or worse, turn on you."

"Any advice?" I asked, lifting Ace off my shoulder and placing him on the ground. He would be vital in what was to come.

"Stick to simple concepts," Jax said. "Pokémon don't think like us. Anything too complex will be lost on them. Offer them food, a team to rely on or a way to grow stronger."

Okay, that made sense. I could do simple.

"When you're ready, Mareep will be released into the ring," Jax continued. "If it tries to cross the light, it will be returned to the centre. If it tries to attack with electricity, the lightning rods will redirect it. You are perfectly safe."

I took a deep breath, steeling my nerves.

"Okay, I'm ready."

Jax stabbed at his keyboard with a finger and, with a flash of red light, Mareep appeared in the center of the ring. Without hesitation, the feral Pokémon locked its hate filled eyes on me and charged, intent on completing the Tackle I had interrupted in the alley. Ace leapt in front of me, his fur bristling and teeth bared and I flinched, unable to convince myself I wasn’t about to get hit by seven kilos of wooly rage, but the instant Mareep touched the edge of the ring it was turned to a red beam of energy and returned to the center as Jax had explained.

Furious at being thwarted, Mareep let loose a barrage of Thunder Shocks, the arcs of electricity so bright I had to look away, but as with her Tackle, none managed to reach their target, instead being drawn to the long metal rods that dotted the room. There was another flash of red light and Mareep vanished, returned to her PokeBall.

"What was that?" Jax shouted. "I thought you said we were dealing with a Mareep!"

"She is a Mareep," I said, glancing over at him and his Mr.Mime, trying to stop my heart from exploding as adrenaline coursed through my veins. "She just has different coloured wool, that’s all."

"Nu uh," he said. "I’ve never seen a Mareep attack like that. That thing has to be part Dragon-type."

Well, that was the plan, eventually.

"Look, she might, technically, sorta be a feral," I said, trying to sound casual.

"A feral?" Jax said, gaping at me. "A feral Mareep? Mew, is that even possible?"

"It’s not her fault, alright?" I said, suddenly feeling defensive of my Pokémon. "She was kicked out of her flock right after she was born, and they weren’t kind about it. Aggression is all she knows."

Jax shook his head in disbelief.

"Fuck me. Alright, it’s your money," Jax said, releasing Mareep once more.

The wooly sheep Pokémon stood in the center of the ring of light and glared at me, having already worked out that it couldn’t reach me. It clearly wasn’t stupid. Ace let out a low growl but I shushed him. Slowly, I set my pack down on the ground, reached inside and brought out two small cupcakes topped with pink swirls from a plastic packaging - PokeTreats.

I fed one of the teats to Ace, showing Mareep it was safe, then gently tossed the other into the ring of light where it landed in front of her. Mareep snorted, ignoring the treat.

Time to work some magic, I guess.

"Hello, Mareep," I said, speaking in a low calm voice, trying to project a sense of non-hostility.

Mareep started, her eyes darting to the psychic Pokémon standing behind and off to the side of me as its cartoonishly large fingers began forming signs she could understand.

"My name is Chloe," I continued. "And this is my Eevee, Ace. We would like you to join our team."

Mareep’s nostrils flared and she snorted louder, stamping the ground with one hoofed front leg.

"Maaa," said Mareep. "Grrrr."

"Hate. You. Kill. You." Jax’s voice said in a low, dead tone that made my skin crawl. I glanced over at him. His eyes had rolled back in his head showing only white. I shuddered.

"I am sorry we attacked you," I tried. "You didn’t leave us another option. They were going to kill you if you stayed. I was saving you."

"Baa, ba, baaaaaa!"

"Lies. Kill. You. Kill. Herd." Mareep said, speaking through Jax. "Kill. All."

"It’s okay, Mareep. You’re safe now," I said, reaching out to pat Ace and show Mareep that we weren’t a threat. "We aren’t going to hurt you. We want to be friends."

"No. Friends. Only. Pain. Hate. Kill." Mareep replied.

Hmm, this isn’t working. Maybe it was time to try something else.

"Mareep," I snapped, my voice a sharp crack in the silent room that made Ace jump, and stood so that I towered over the little sheep. "I am your trainer. I defeated you in battle. I am stronger than you, and you are mine."

Mareep stomped at the ground again and sparks flickered beneath its dark wool like distant lightning in a storm cloud.

"You are weak, Mareep," I shouted. "Weaker than an unevolved Eevee barely out of the egg."

"Rarraagh," came a strangled sound out of Jax’s throat.

Alright, enough stick. Time for the carrot.

"But I can make you strong," I promised, lowering my voice but keeping my tone steely. "Stronger than you can even imagine. Join me and I will take you past Flaffy, past Ampharos. Join me and I will make you so strong no one will ever be able to hurt you again."

"Hooooow?" Jax moaned. "Humans. Lie. Make. Promises. Lie."

That was interesting. As far as I knew, Mareep had had almost no previous interactions with humans.

"Together, trainer and Pokémon, I can transform you into Mega Ampharos," I told the sheep. If it wasn’t interested in being friends, that was fine. A mutual goal was just as good. “All you have to do is fight for me.”

Mareep rolled her eyes around in her head and snorted again, then looked at me as if weighing me up. I held her gaze, understanding somehow that being the first to break would mean she’d never join me. At last, my eyes starting to water, Mareep looked away and I let out a breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding.

"So what do you say, Mareep?" I asked. "Do you want to get stronger?"

Mareep didn’t answer right away, instead lowering her head to sniff at the PokeTreat. Finding it satisfactory, her wide tongue shot out and shoveled the treat into her mouth where she ground it to mush with her large flat teeth.

"Maa," she said after she swallowed.

"Will. Trust." said Jax. "Betray. Kill. You."

Message loud and clear.

"Ugh, that is one messed up Mareep," Jax groaned, breaking the mental connection. He shook his head as if trying to clear it of the negative emotions. "You get everything you needed?"

That was the second reason Communers were so popular. While in a trance state they were simply a conduit and recalled nothing afterwards but vague impressions and emotions. No doubt more than one trainer used the service to plan their secret strategies with their Pokémon.

I looked over at Mareep standing in the red ring, watching me.

"Let’s find out," I said.

Taking a breath, I stepped into the ring. Mareep tensed by didn’t react. Taking that as a good sign, I squatted down and patted the Pokémon’s head. Mareep’s lips twitched and I was sure she was going to bite me, but I refused to react. I knew she was looking for any sign of weakness.

"Hello," I said to her. "From now on, your name is Arashi. My Tempest."

—

Leaving Jax to set up for his client, I returned Arashi to her PokeBall, lifted Ace back onto my shoulder and made my way back out to the Gym receptionist.

"Hello again," she greeted me. "I trust you found our services satisfactory?"

"Yep, everything went about as well as could be expected," I replied.

"Excellent, was there something else we can help you with today?" she asked.

"Yeah, I was hoping to get my Trainer’s Licence.," I said.

"Not a problem, I already have all your information here ," she said, typing on her keyboard. "Our next class begins Monday morning at eight ."

"Class?" I said. "I thought it was just an exam."

"In the past it was just the exam," the receptionist explained, nodding. "But with recent increases in new trainer deaths, the League has decided to require all new applicants to participate in a five day long class at their local Trainer School. The exam will be provided on the fifth day."

Not ideal. But it also wasn’t like I had another option.

"That will be fine," I said.

"Excellent, will that be cash or ‘dex?"