Adult-FanFiction.org : Anime

Equilibrium	By : jvperric Category: Pokemon > General Views: 12587 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Nintendo does. I make no claim towards any of the copyrighted intellectual property contained herein. I am making no money from this story in any way.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
*****Chapter II: The Layer of Plans*****

They swept over the desolation, protected by a large psychic shield while they looked for survivors. Distorted, cartoonish outlines of victims near the hypocenter were blasted onto the few remaining walls. He noticed the twisted remains of playground equipment where he knew a primary school to be. It was gone.

*****
“You found nothing?”
Xavier placed two Pokéballs on the desk in front of him. Erica stood beside him, while a taller man stood on the other side of the desk. His lip curled into a sneer.
“All we recovered were these two,” Xavier said. “A Tyrogue and a Houndour. We turned that building over.”
“It’s my own fault, really,” the man said, turning away and looking out the floor to ceiling window behind him. “What was I thinking, sending you to get a few Pokémon from a Pokémon lab? I must have been sleep-deprived when I sent you out there. I’m so sorry to have wasted my brother and sister’s precious time.”
Xavier kept a stony face. Their sister was not so stoic.
“Billy said there were a dozen Ralts there, sir,” Erica said. “We’ll have someone go and set him straight.”
“It’s only a temporary setback, Richard,” Xavier said. “There must be somewhere else we can get Psychic-types. We could just buy them.”
“Not in the numbers we need. Not without arousing suspicion. There’s supposed to be a high concentration in the Geshrude Forest this time of year, maybe you can find some there. Get some bunk time; you’ll go in a few days. And stop by the lab and see Curtis before you go.”
Xavier and Erica saluted and left the dark office, holding each other’s hands when they were sure Richard wasn’t looking. He watched them on the camera outside his office without emotion.

*****
Poochyena woke from one of her favorite dreams and felt two points of pressure running along her back. Her head darted around to see what it was and she saw the boy that had helped her the night before. She relaxed, putting her head back on the ground while she tried to identify the smell coming from the tin he had over the fire.
“Are you hungry, Poochyena?” Jason asked.
“That does smell good,” she said, rolling over so he could scratch her belly. “I’ll have some.”
From the safety of the sleeping bag, Ralts watched his Trainer’s exchange with Poochyena. He emerged, still wary of the Dark-type. She noticed him approach, but didn’t keep her eyes on him. Jason scooped him up into his lap, where he could safely give Poochyena a smirk.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Jason said, shifting the tin that contained their breakfast over the fire.
“Food?” Ralts asked, pointing to the fire.
“Yep, that’s breakfast. It might not taste like much, but it has everything you need for a long day. Oh, looks like it’s done.”
Jason set the tin on one of the cinderblocks ringing the fire to cool and put Ralts on the ground. He got up to roll up the sleeping bag and collect the little scraps of trash they had left there the night before. Poochyena looked over at Ralts, who flinched.
“I’m not going to bite you,” she said, sitting up. “I wouldn’t get any of that food if I did.”
Ralts had never been quite so aware of how soft and bitable he was. “You’re just being nice to get something to eat.”
“I have no reason to attack you. Even if I got you, he could still probably smack me pretty good,” Poochyena said, nodding towards Jason.
“No one’s biting or smacking anyone,” Jason said, fixing the sleeping bag to his bag. “We’re just going to have something to eat and be on our way.”
Poochyena wasn’t sure if she was included in that ‘we’ or not.
Jason cracked open the tin and set it down in front of the fire, letting the Pokémon grab some while he got a little for himself with a fork. They ate silently, and Poochyena purposefully prolonged the meal while trying to look her cutest for Jason. He seemed not to notice her, instead devoting his attention to his Pokégear.
Eventually she could stall them no longer, and Ralts snatched up the last morsel she had been rolling around the tin with her paw.
“I was going to eat that,” she said indignantly.
“When? Tomorrow?”
Jason took the scrap, split it in two, and gave half to each of them. Poochyena licked it out of Jason’s hand. He took the empty tin and put it in his bag. “All right, let’s get going, Ralts.”
He picked up Ralts and shouldered his bag. Poochyena was out of time for subtlety. “Jason? You know how I said I would tell you if I had any weird dreams?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Well…I had one last night where I was one of the Pokémon you trained.”
Jason looked down at her. Ralts squeaked involuntarily.
“You want to come with us? Don’t you want to see if any of your siblings got out of your den?”
“The Weedle got them all.” She shuddered. “I don’t have anything left here. Please let me come with you.”
Jason set Ralts on his shoulder. “What do you think?”
He shrugged. “I think there are a lot of other Pokémon we could have on our team. Still, she has nowhere else to go…and it’s not my choice.”
“All right, Poochyena,” Jason said, taking out a Pokéball. “We’d love to have you on the team. Just one condition, though.”
Her tail thumped against the ground. “Anything.”
“Ralts is you equal as a teammate. You don’t treat him badly because you have a type advantage. You’re going to be civil. And Ralts isn’t going to abuse that, is he?”
Ralts nodded. Jason set the Pokéball on the ground in front of his feet.
“So that’s my offer. If you can live with that, touch the button on the Pokéball.”
Poochyena stood up and inched towards the Pokéball. She sniffed it intensively, rolling it around a bit before putting a paw on the front button. She disappeared in a flash of light and the Pokéball began rocking. Left and right it teetered, the line dividing the upper and lower hemispheres glowing. Jason and Ralts watched with trepidation.
The ball came to rest. Jason’s Pokédex chirped and he picked up the Pokéball, pulling the release catch on one side. It sprang open and Poochyena appeared in another white flash, slightly dazed.
“That thing makes you dizzy,” she said.
Ralts nodded. “You’ll get used to it.”
“Welcome to the team, Poochyena,” Jason said, kneeling down and scratching her head. “Would you like to walk with us?”
“That would be nice,” she said, and took her place by Jason’s feet.
Their trek south lasted a full seven days, a week of walking punctuated by battles with wild Pokémon and passing Trainers. Jason won most of his battles, collecting a fine sum in prize money. He quickly discovered the tells that differentiated a weaker Trainer from a stronger one, and wagered his money accordingly. By the time the tallest towers of Presida City loomed to the south, his first destination was not the Pokémon Center, but the bank. He found one near the town entrance.
“Why do you need that stuff?” Ralts asked as Jason handed a stack of bills to a teller.
“To buy food and nice things for you,” he said. “Finding food for ourselves wouldn’t leave a lot of time for training. Plus I have Trainer insurance to pay, medicine I need to keep stocked for the road…there’s a lot of stuff you don’t see, but I have to do it.”
They left the bank, and once they were on the main road Poochyena jumped onto Jason’s leg. He shook her off and she cowered between his feet.
“What is it?” Jason asked.
“There’re a lot of people here,” she said, watching each person that passed them. “It makes me nervous.”
“Okay, we’ll work on getting you socialized soon. Do you want to go in your Pokéball for now?” Poochyena nodded. “All right, get some rest.”
Jason recalled her and they made for the Pokémon Center, a large building just off the main highway. It was much larger than the Center in Duskwind Town, and Jason imagined the Centers in major cities were of a similar size.
The nurse inside gave Ralts and Poochyena a once over, and Poochyena received her immunization shots. She struggled against the nurse and Jason held her paws down, promising it wouldn’t hurt as much as she thought.
“It hurts just as much as I thought!” she said when the first needle went into her hind leg.
“The next one won’t hurt as much,” Jason said, tightening his grip.
“Ow!”
Poochyena glared at the nurse as Jason recalled her. Jason took a city map and a handful of brochures from the front desk and perused them with Ralts on one of the chairs in the lobby.
“So the Gym’s here,” Jason said, drawing on the map with a marker, “Right in the middle of the city. Looks like there are a lot of good restaurants around here, too. And an all-Pokémon revue. That could be interesting.”
“What about training?” Ralts asked.
“We can take on the junior Trainers at the Gym or go out to the fields west of the city. The Pokémon there should be strong enough to give you and Poochyena a challenge. We could also snoop around the recycling plant; there might be some Grimer you could fight.”
Ralts stuck out his tongue. “Yuck.”
“They’ll go down easy against you. Oh, there’s a videophone bank,” Jason said, looking to the far wall. “Find something interesting for us to do, okay? I have to make a few calls.”
The little Pokémon nodded and pored over the brochures while Jason dropped a pair of quarters in one of the videophones. He attached his Pokégear to the machine and picked Professor Bayberry’s number from the touch screen. The other end picked up automatically after a few rings. Jason saw the Professor seeing someone out before he noticed his phone blinking.
“Ah, Jason!” he said, picking up the handset. “Finally in Presida City, I see.”
“Yeah, I got in an hour ago.” Jason looked at the lab behind Professor Bayberry. “Is Billy off today?”
“No,” the older man said, his face dropping. “Never showed up for work today. No answer at his apartment or on his cell phone. The police just left, I filed a missing persons report. Someone also stole my last two Pokémon a few nights ago.”
“No!”
“I’m afraid so. The lab was a wreck when I came in on Wednesday. Papers everywhere, desks turned over, just an absolute mess. I got everything in order after a few hours, but the Houndour and Tyrogue I had to give out were gone. The League is sending over replacements and the police are looking into the burglary, so there’s no point in worrying. How’s your hike been so far?”
“Ralts is growing nicely,” Jason said, leaning to the side so Professor Bayberry could see Ralts on the coffee table, playing with the brochures. “And I caught a Poochyena the day after I left. She’s sulking in her Pokéball because she just got her shots.”
“I hope they’ll get along.”
“I think I set them straight. They’re young enough that I hope they can learn to work together. I’m going to run one of the training batteries you showed me this afternoon and get them competing over a target. If they can work it out, I know we’ll be ready for the Gym. If not, I’ll look for a Pikachu or something.”
“Just don’t run them too hard. They’re barely more than children, after all.”
“Don’t worry, Professor, I’ll go easy on them. Good luck finding whoever grabbed your Pokémon.”
“Thank you, Jason. I have to go now, I really should try Billy again. I hope he’s all right…”
The transmission cut out, Professor Bayberry’s lab replaced by a static image demanding more quarters. Jason hung up the handset and disconnected his Pokégear. He decided to call Casey later; no doubt she was occupied with her Vulpix’s meticulous grooming process. He went back to his chair and put Ralts on his knee.
“Find anything good?”
“I like these pictures,” Ralts said, pointing to one brochure with a vibrant central spread. “The colors are nice.”
“Well, we can’t go there yet. Not until we have at least eight Badges. That’s the Sederan Pokémon League Conference. See these?” Jason pointed the eight small shapes below the main banner. “We can get this one, the Wing badge, right here in Presida City. I want to do some more training, though. You and Poochyena are strong, but I want to be sure that we can tear right through those Flying-types.”
“You really think we can win?” Ralts asked.
“Of course! Now let’s head out to the fields and find somewhere to train.”
Ralts scurried up to Jason’s shoulder and they left the Pokémon Center, just barely catching the eastbound bus outside. Jason rolled Poochyena’s Pokéball in his hand while they rode. Ralts watched him.
“Will she be okay?” he asked.
“Ralts…is that concern I hear in your voice?”
“No, no,” he said, tripping over his words. “I just don’t want her sitting there while I spend the day training.”
“Sure, sure. Maybe I’ll pick up a Mate Ball so you can make sure she sleeps okay, too.”
Ralts pouted for the rest of the ride.
The fields outside Presida City were lush and rolling for as far as Jason could see. Pokémon rustled about in the knee-length grass all around him, and he was careful to step clear of anything moving. About a half-mile from the city, he stopped and set down his bag, shrugging off Ralts and releasing Poochyena as he did.
“Ready for some training?” he asked. They both nodded. “There are plenty of wild Pokémon around here, so get cracking. Just don’t go after any baby Pokémon and I’ll get lunch started. Stay nearby, too, you could get lost in all this grass.”
Poochyena bounded into the nearest patch of rustling undergrowth, while Ralts calmly walked into another large clump of grass.

*****
Dr. Latif Curtis has just finished brushing his Pidgeotto’s plumage when Erica knocked on the door to his lab. He put his Pokémon back in its cage and hurried over to the door. He had barely unlocked it when she strode in, stepping over loose files on the floor.
“Ms. Cole,” he said, taking a step back from her, “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Richard said you had something for me and Xavier?”
“Yes, a therapist,” he said under his breath. “Right over here, ma’am.”
He scurried over to a shelf and took down a small blue box, one with a lock on the front. He took the key from a chain around his neck and opened the box, taking out a Pokéball. Both of its hemispheres were red, and the medial band was a glossy black. Dr. Curtis laid it proudly on the table between him and Erica. She picked it up and rolled it in her hand.
“You painted a Pokéball?”
“No no, this is a very special Pokéball that Dr. Bedear and I have been working on since this project’s inception. She insists on calling it the Vacuum Ball, but I prefer Mass Ball, myself.”
“What does it do?”
Dr. Curtis went to a computer terminal and pulled up a video. “Here’s our documentation.”
The video depicted a frost-covered field with at least two dozen Pokémon milling about. A figure moved into the camera’s view, put the Mass Ball in front of the lens, pressed the central button, and threw it towards the Pokémon. Most of them looked its way and returned to their idle play, but then the Mass Ball opened and a visible wave of energy blasted out. The Pokémon, trying as they were to escape, were drawn towards the Mass Ball, until it was close enough to convert them to energy and capture them. It only shook once before the central light faded.
“Impressive,” Erica said, looking at the Mass Ball in her hand.
“Yes, the mechanics behind it are really quite fascinating,” Dr. Curtis said excitedly. “We managed to combine an artificial Vacuum Wave attack with the same protocols that allow Mate Balls to—”
“I’m really not interested in how it works,” Erica said. “I can just throw it at a bunch of Psychic-types and it will catch them?”
“In simplest terms, yes,” he said, disappointed.
“All right. Thanks.”
Erica left, and Dr. Curtis returned to grooming his Pidgeotto. “You’re interested in how the Mass Ball works, aren’t you, pretty bird?”
Pidgeotto squawked and flapped its wings.
Erica returned to the administrators’ dormitories and went into her private room. She flipped the switch that controlled the wall sconces four times in rapid succession and part of the wall that divided her room from Xavier’s slid away like a pocket door. He sat at his desk typing, but turned to face his sister when she appeared.
“What’s that?” Erica asked, nodding to the computer.
“Mission report from last night. I’ll send it over to you to sign when I’m done. Is that what Curtis had for us?”
Erica held up the Mass Ball and walked into Xavier’s room. “Yeah, it’s some kind of backwards grenade. It’s called a Vacuum Ball, I think. In case we find a large group of Psychic-types at once.”
“Clever design,” Xavier said, taking the Mass Ball and examining it. “Probably works like a more powerful Mate Ball. I wonder how it can convert so much—”
Erica sat on Xavier’s desk and looked at him. “What’s more interesting, that ball or me?”
He put the Mass Ball in a drawer in his desk. Xavier stood up, grabbed his sister around the waist, and carried her over to his bed.

*****
“Ralts, come here for a minute.”
Ralts hopped over a dizzied Oddish and went to Jason, who sat on a log while he stirred the pot containing their lunch. He ruffled Ralts’ hair and pointed to a fat Gloom waddling through another patch of grass.
“See that Gloom there? I want you to go after it, but only when I say so. I want to watch it for a little longer and see what it can do. Go wait in that bush there.”
He did so, and when he was hidden, Jason called Poochyena back, repeated the instructions, and had her disappear into another shrub. When the Gloom was just about the same distance from both of them, Jason gave them the signal.
“Now!”
Poochyena leapt from the bushes. Gloom looked at her bared fangs and puffed up the large flower on its head. Ralts pushed past a branch and emerged, grabbing the Gloom’s attention. Poochyena growled.
“This one’s mine,” she said, and pounced.
“Wait!” Ralts shouted. “Don’t attack it!”
Poochyena clamped her jaws down on the Gloom’s flower, which released a thick green gas in turn. She let go, coughing and sputtering, and her muscles started to lock up.
“Wha…” was all she could say before her jaw froze. Gloom turned to Ralts, who had already launched a Confusion attack. Gloom collapsed, twitching, while Poochyena fell over on her rigid side.
Jason came over with an anti-paralysis spray and applied it to Poochyena, who ran up to Ralts as soon as she could move again.
“That was my Pokémon,” she said, snarling.
“You couldn’t even move after you bit it,” Ralts said. “It would’ve stomped on you if I hadn’t knocked it out. Besides, Jason told me to attack it.”
“No, he told me to attack it! Wait…” They both turned to Jason. “You told both of us to go after it?”
“I wanted to see if one of you would let the other go,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting it to release a Stun Spore on reflex, but it helps the lesson here. You both have strengths and weaknesses. Don’t turn your nose up, Poochyena; even you have your vulnerabilities. You just saw that a physical attack didn’t work. I want you two to be able to work together. I’m not asking you to like each other. I’d like you to be friends, but I can’t undo thousands of years of conditioning.”
Ralts looked at Poochyena. When he tuned into the psychic energy surrounding all living things—Jason, himself, the grass, the unconscious Gloom—there was utter blankness around Poochyena. It unnerved him. How could Jason expect him to work alongside something that he could only see in silhouette?
“What are you staring at?” she asked. Ralts dropped his gaze.
“I don’t trust you, Poochyena,” Ralts said. “But I respect you as a teammate and for your strength.”
She seemed taken aback. “Thanks,” she said. “I guess you’re not just a weak little plaything.”
“As close to a compliment you’re going to get, Ralts,” Jason said. “Now let’s have some lunch.”
Jason took three bowls from his cooking set and distributed hearty chowder between them. At first, it seemed like Ralts and Poochyena would take their usual spots on opposite sides of Jason, but instead Ralts carried his bowl over to Poochyena’s side and sat down next to her, leaving several inches between them. It surprised both Jason and Poochyena, but neither objected. They ate quietly, with Jason finishing just after Poochyena, who had wolfed down her share and thoroughly licked the bowl.
Ralts sipped up most of his broth and nibbled at one of the chunks in his chowder, but the serving was more than he was used to. He sat back, rubbed his stomach, and then nudged the bowl towards Poochyena. She looked at the food, then at him, and back at the food.
“Do you want any more?” Ralts asked.
Poochyena nodded and slowly ate Ralts’ unfinished portion. Jason smiled and gave Ralts a pat on the head. Once the last of the food was gone, Poochyena inched over and sat contentedly next to Ralts.
“Maybe you’re both more pleasant when you have some food in you,” Jason said. “Let’s relax for a bit, and then we can get back to training. I’ll do some running with you, too.”
Jason took out his Pokégear to book a room at the Pokémon Center for the night. Poochyena lay down and turned on her side, and soon she was snoring lightly. Ralts went and rested against the log on which Jason was sitting.

*****
The sun was beginning to set, and Jason was packing up the various medicines they had needed throughout the afternoon. He looked towards the thicket of trees to the south where Ralts and Poochyena had disappeared to find stronger Pokémon.
Within the very northern end of Greenpeak Forest, Ralts and Poochyena walked around trees and over exposed roots. Poochyena stopped every so often to scratch at the collar Jason had put around her neck, affixed to which was a small dongle from his Pokégear that would light up when they were due back.
“Stupid thing,” Poochyena said, biting at the collar. “This itches.”
“Here,” Ralts said. He put a slender hand under the collar and rubbed Poochyena’s fur. She closed her eyes and one of her hind legs lifted up automatically. It shot back to the ground as soon as she noticed it. Ralts adjusted the dongle so it wouldn’t knock against her skin.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Poochyena trotted alongside Ralts. “And thanks…for that Gloom before. I should’ve been more careful.”
“It’s okay.” The dongle on Poochyena’s collar began flashing. “We should go back.”
They turned around and started for the edge of the forest, when a Riolu stepped out from behind a tree, unaware of the two. It was twice as tall as either of them and looked genuinely surprised to see them.
“I’ve never seen you before,” it said, carefully approaching them.
“We’re just visiting,” Ralts said. “We were looking for stronger opponents than the Pokémon in the fields and our Trainer just called us back.”
“You have a Trainer?” Riolu asked. They nodded. “I’ve met Pokémon that had Trainers. They say they get stronger faster when they have a human guiding them. Is that true?”
“We’ve been with Jason for just a few days and we’re a lot stronger than when we started,” Poochyena said. “It might’ve taken us a season or more to get as strong as we are now in the wild.”
Riolu scratched its head. “I’d like to get stronger…all I have to fight around here are little bugs. Everything else is too smart to come near me.”
“We get to fight other trained Pokémon,” Ralts said. “They don’t run away. And they’ll get you even stronger than you would fighting wild Pokémon.”
Poochyena’s dongle flashed again. “We’re going back to our Trainer right now,” she said. “You can meet him, if you like.”
“I’ll come with you,” Riolu said. “It doesn’t mean I want to have your human as a Trainer, though.”
Riolu followed Ralts and Poochyena out of the forest, where they could see Jason as a small shape above the grass. He watched them approach, curious about the larger blue shape behind them.
Eventually they got close enough for Jason to make out the shape as a Riolu and his hand instinctively shot towards one of the empty Pokéballs on his belt. He composed himself and smiled at his Pokémon.
“I see you brought back a friend,” he said.
“Riolu, this is our Trainer, Jason,” Ralts said, pointing to Jason. Riolu extended a paw.
Jason shook hands with Riolu. “It’s nice to meet you, Riolu. Ralts and Poochyena find you?”
“Yes, they told me how much stronger trained Pokémon get over wild Pokémon,” he said. “I’m always trying to get stronger.”
“Well, you’re welcome to come with us,” Jason said.
Riolu looked at Ralts and Poochyena. “You seem nice enough, but I want to see how well you’ve trained your Pokémon. If they can beat me, I’ll train with you.”
“Fair enough. Ralts, Poochyena, don’t knock him out.”
Riolu leapt backwards, flipped twice, and landed behind Jason’s Pokémon. They turned back, but Riolu already had his leg out to sweep them both. Poochyena reared up and avoided tumbling, but Ralts landed on his back. When he looked up, Poochyena had her fangs dug into Riolu’s shoulder and was flying about as he tried to shake her off.
Ralts got to his feet in time to see Poochyena take a Force Palm to her underbelly, dislodging her and flinging her through the air. She landed in a heap and Ralts ran over to her, throwing his body over hers. She laid still.
“Poochyena, you idiot,” he said through tears, “Fighting-types are stronger than you, why did you do that? Why? Why?”
“Ralts, turn around!” Jason shouted. “Turn around!”
He looked back and saw Riolu darting towards him. Ralts blindly fired a Confusion attack that landed in front of Riolu, knocking him off his feet. He fell back and Ralts was on top of him, laying into him with Psychic-enhanced punches. Riolu shielded himself with his arms, but Ralts’ hands were small enough to hit him anyway.
“You killed her! You killed her!” Ralts shouted, his fists landing as often as his tears. Poochyena groaned and rolled onto her stomach. “We wanted you to be our teammate and you killed her!”
“Ralts,” Poochyena said.
He didn’t hear. Riolu tried to knee Ralts in the groin, but he gave Riolu a psychic shove and pushed his whole body six inches into the ground. Jason ran over and pulled Ralts away, still madly swinging his arms and legs.
“Ralts, come down,” Jason said. “Poochyena’s not dead. Look.”
Ralts slowed down and turned his head down. Poochyena sat upright by Jason’s feet, wearing her closest imitation of a smile. He looked at her, and then to Riolu, who was only just sitting up and rubbing his bruises.
“I thought he killed you,” Ralts said sheepishly.
“It looked like you were going to do the same,” Poochyena said. “Would you really kill for me?”
He scratched his head. “I guess I would. I’m sorry, Riolu, I thought—”
“It’s okay,” he said. “I didn’t know psychics could be so powerful. Looks like you were raised well. I’d be happy to travel and train with all of you.”
Jason took out a Pokéball and pressed the button to Riolu’s chest. He disappeared and the ball shook weakly before the ball’s light faded and Jason’s Pokédex vibrated. Ralts cheered and Poochyena barked before yelping and putting her head on the ground, covering it with her front paws. Jason recalled her and picked up his bag while Ralts climbed onto his shoulder.
“Will they be okay?” Ralts asked.
“Yeah. Their Pokéballs release a pain reliever when they’re returned, so that’ll tide them over until we get to the Pokémon Center. I’ll get all of you healed up and then we’ll go to our room.”
“Do I have to go into my Pokéball to get healed, too?”
“The machine that heals you only works with Pokéballs, so you’ll go in for a few minutes. There are just too many Pokémon to design machines that could heal them all out of their Pokéballs. And they don’t want people just bringing in wild Pokémon off the street, so they all need a Trainer.”
“Human stuff has a lot of rules,” Ralts said through a yawn.
“Well, I think a lot of them could be changed. There could be a Pokéball that would capture badly injured Pokémon that could only be unlocked at a Pokémon Center, and then it would release the Pokémon. Still…”
“Still what?”
“The Pokémon that get injured in the wild are usually the weaker ones. If you save them, they have another chance to pass on weaker genes. That’s not good for the species. I don’t know, it’s a complicated issue.”
“I’m tired.”
Jason scratched his head. “Don’t you worry your little head about these things. You’ll always be fine. Go ahead and take a nap, you’ve had a long day.”
The rhythm of Jason’s walk eventually lulled Ralts to sleep, and Jason recalled him when he heard snores.
Just as the sun disappeared and the street lights came on, Jason arrived at the Pokémon Center. The night nurse was at the desk, and a few Trainers sat around the lobby, eating microwave meals. Jason dropped his team off with the nurse and bought himself a meal. He brewed a cup of tea while the microwave worked and put everything on a tray when his meal was done.
“Jason Sato, three,” the nurse said, putting a tray with three Pokéballs on the counter. He went over, checked the order number on his receipt, and clipped the Pokéballs to his belt.
“I also booked a room for the night,” he said. “Under ‘Sato.’”
The nurse reached under the counter and retrieved a room key. “You’re in two-fourteen, upstairs.”
“Thanks.” Jason picked up his food tray and room key and went to the stairs. The second floor hallway was empty, and he found his room without any trouble.
It was a basic single unit, its only furnishings a bed, a nightstand, and a desk with a television on top. A door on one side of the entrance led to the bathroom, while a closet occupied the other side.
He flicked the lights on and released his Pokémon. They ran into the room and quickly claimed the bed. Poochyena scaled the nightstand and jumped onto the pillow, Riolu leapt up from the ground, and Ralts jumped futilely at the side of the bed until Riolu helped him up.
“You guys are going to make room for me, right?” Jason asked, placing his meal on the desk and putting his bag in the closet. He went over and tried to take one of the pillows; Poochyena growled loudly. He rapped her on the muzzle and she made room for him.
Jason took his meal and put it on the nightstand. He kicked off his shoes and sat on the bed, sighing as he sunk into the mattress. All three Pokémon watched him open his meal.
“Oh stop, you all got nutrient cakes when you went through the machine. I haven’t eaten yet. Little scavengers.”
Ralts spared a sidelong glance at the food every so often as Jason watched the news, while Riolu and Poochyena openly gawked at the meal. Jason finally gave in and placed the tray in the middle of the bed. They descended upon the scraps like a pack of Mandibuzz, breaking away only when the tray was licked clean.
“You’d all leave me to starve if you could,” Jason said.
Later, when Jason had instructed his Pokémon on the use of the litter box in the bathroom and gotten a clean pillow from housekeeping, Jason sat on the bed in his pajamas with his laptop. Ralts and Poochyena were curled up by his knees, and Jason idly scratched Riolu’s head while he tried to raise Casey on her computer.
“I guess she already went to bed.” Jason closed his computer and set it on the nightstand. He turned out the light over the bed and turned off the television. “Big day tomorrow, guys. Get some rest; we’re hitting the Gym tomorrow.”
Ralts snuggled deeper into the folds of Jason’s pajama bottoms while Poochyena growled at imaginary prey. Riolu tapped Jason on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry Riolu, you’re not battling tomorrow. It’s a Flying-type Gym.”
“It’s not that, I just…I wanted to thank you for having me on your team.”
“Even after Ralts beat you up?”
“Yeah. I’m glad I’m here with you.” Riolu licked Jason on the cheek. “Good night.”
“Good night, Riolu.”

*****
Forlone Jungle was a thick, dank mess. Erica and Xavier could only walk a few feet before their feet were snared by a root or caught in a patch of mud. The Mass Ball bounced around on Xavier’s belt.
“What a god-awful mess,” Erica said, pushing her way through a Spinarak’s web. “They should just burn this place down.”
“They almost did, during the civil war. Instead they sent in a bunch of commandos to root out the separatists.”
“This whole place could be another city. Do you see any Psychic-types?”
“Not a one,” Xavier said. “Six hours and not so much as a Spoink.”
“Forget this. I say we give up and do something more interesting,” Erica said, grabbing at Xavier’s arm.
“Let’s give it another half hour.”
Erica pouted and trailed behind her brother, her hands shoved in her pockets. Xavier sighed inwardly. She was insatiable, and yet he was afraid of what would happen if he refused her. He switched his radio off as she grabbed him.
“I think Richard’s starting to lose it,” Erica said matter-of-factly when they got to their feet and started walking again. Xavier looked back at her as they continued.
“What makes you say that?”
“Breaking into labs and traipsing through forests in the dead of night all for some secret project no one knows about? I don’t think even he knows what this is all for. Why are we here?”
“Because we’re getting paid,” Xavier said. “Don’t overanalyze it so much. We do things and we get money. It’s just like a regular job.” He pushed a bush aside and stopped. “Whoa.”
“What is it?”
“Pay dirt.”
He moved to the side so Erica could see. They had stumbled on a large clearing where, enclaved in the quiet forest, slept dozens and dozens of Psychic-types. Most were from the Abra or Ralts families, but a few more exotic species slept nearby: Xatu, Gothitelle, Lunatone and Solrock. They caught themselves before they yelled in excitement and caused a mass teleportation.
“All right, here we go,” Xavier said. He took the Mass Ball from his belt and pressed the central button. It began blinking red, and he lobbed it towards the center of the field, where the Pokémon were most heavily concentrated. Some of the evolved Pokémon stirred, but only a few woke up, and none in time to recognize the threat. The Mass Ball opened and sucked up most of the Pokémon, the ones near the edges of the clearing avoiding capture. They all disappeared, and the Mass Ball rocked once before chirping to indicate capture. What lucky Pokémon had avoided the ball and hadn’t yet teleported away watched Xavier walk into the field and retrieve the Mass Ball. Erica followed him and Xavier turned on his radio.
“Baseplate, this is Predator, over.”
“Baseplate acknowledges, Predator, go ahead. Over,” their handler said.
“Mission complete, Baseplate, requesting air extraction, grid coordinates to follow, break—”
“Negative, Predator,” their handler said. “UAV’s reporting multiple military helos sweeping the area. Looks like a training exercise. You and Temptress are getting surrounded fast. Why wasn’t your radio on? Over.”
“Course of action recommendation, over,” Xavier said.
“Relaying a route to your PDA. There’s a safehouse six miles north-northwest of your position. Challenge is ‘Remnant,’ countersign is ‘Caveat.’ We’ll keep you updated on troop positions in real time, over.”
“Ten-four, Baseplate. Out.” Xavier took out his Pokénav and saw a line zigzagging towards the north on the map, with groups of small red triangles dangerously close on either side. Erica tapped twice on his shoulder and they ran towards the tree line.
“This is a fine mess we’re in,” Erica said, pressing herself against a tree. “They didn’t think it was important to tell us there were—”
“Shut up,” Xavier said, checking his Pokénav. Erica blushed and fell silent. “Come on.”
Neither of them realized how easy it was to run through the thicket of trees and undergrowth with soldiers on either side of them. It was only when they were laying on the floor of the safehouse outside Mortridge City and Xavier looked at his watch that he saw they had been running for nearly an hour.
One of the safehouse attendants brought them coffee and helped them into a couch. “We’ll have transport to bring you back to base in the morning sir,” he said. “You’re safe now.”
His muscles unclenched, and Xavier went limp in his seat. Erica curled into him and sleep took them.
- 1
- 2
- 3
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Equilibrium