“Okay so first thing’s first.” Blue Coat stated with his arms crossed, “introductions.” He pointed to the lady, “She’s Rui, that’s Michael,” he said while pointing at Yellow Jacket, “and my name is Wes. What’s yours?”
“Apologies for Wes’ gruff manner, it’s just how he is, but he means well.” Espeon spoke into my mind.
Tell Blue Coat my name is Psyche please.” I responded with a smile.
My response ended up being delayed for a bit as Espeon snickered for a bit. Once she settled down enough to send my reply, Wes looked down at her in confusion.
“What does Blue Coat even mean?!” he facepalmed before looking at me, “Okay so your name is Psyche. Next question; do you know what’s in that case you’re carrying?”
I shook my head.
He gained a glint of excitement in his eyes, “Go ahead and open it up, I can’t wait to see what the third gen looks like.”
I pulled the case off and set it on the ground, searching the edges revealed a button. Pressing it caused the case to let out a shrill beep before an automated voice rang out.
[Please hold your ID against the case for authentication.]
I looked up at Blue Coat, expecting him to walk over and open it when Michael spoke up. “Go ahead and scan yours,” he chuckled, “knowing Krane, he predicted you’d insist on helping.”
I hesitantly took my phone out and tapped it to the case.
[Authentication Accepted. Welcome Psyche.]
My eyes boggled at the confirmation my identity was accepted and the case opened to reveal some kind of extended fingerless glove that would reach just past my elbow.
It was the same white as the case, but also had glowing blue lines running the length of it like seams, the palm of the glove had a Pokeball symbol that glowed blue as well. Upon looking closer the symbol projected a hologram of Professor Krane appeared.
“Hello Psyche! I am very happy to see you’ve decided to help us with this crisis. I’ll let Wes and Michael go over the general details, and this device’s primary function. There will however, be an operator's manual downloaded directly to your phone. For now I will inform you that this device can act as an extension to your phone, and will act like a Holo-caster from Kalos.”
Computer Krane adjusted his glasses before continuing, “It has been designed to be comfortable even after wearing it for extended periods, but unlike what Michael and Wes have, yours must recharge in its case. I doubt it would ever run out of power unless you don’t charge it for weeks at a time, but I still advise you to do so.”
“As for payment for services, for every Shadow Pokemon rescued by you, you will receive credits that can be put towards the improvement of your team, just call me or Professor Juniper, explain what you would like, and we will have the requested items sent to you.”
“Stay safe, listen to Wes, Rui, and Michael. But most important of all, be sure to have fun on your Pokemon journey.”
The hologram winked out, and left us all in the dark now that the sun had truly set.
Michael let out a whistle, “Krane you really outdid yourself on this one.”
He looked at me, “To spare you the details, this,” he pointed down at the glove, “is a Snag Machine. It does what it says on the tin, it turns pokeballs into snag balls which can be used to steal Pokemon from trainers.”
“However,” Blue Coat cut off my rising horror, “each machine has what is called an ‘Aura Limiter’. This ensures that the snag balls it produces are only able to work on Shadow Pokemon, and if there aren’t any in the vicinity, it shuts the snag function down to prevent misuse or accidents.”
“And judging by what you did earlier, you don’t need the Aura Reader to check for which Pokemon are Shadow Pokemon!” Rui exclaimed while making tiny jumps in place, “You’re just like me!”
All this information was making my head spin, but one term kept sticking out.
“Shadow Pokemon… You mean what Cipher did in Orre ten years ago?”
A quick relay through Espeon later and Blue Coat nodded, “And five years before that as well.”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Wait, you all are the ones who sent Cipher packing twice?”
“More times than that,” Rui replied with a sigh, “Cipher only got big in Orre twice cause we don’t have heavy League presence there.”
“They’ve got cells all over the world,” Michael explained, “but they’ve amassed a massive amount of resources in Unova over the past few months. It’s why Professor Krane sent this Snag Machine, because the sheer amount here is beyond us.”
“Emol!”
We all faced Oxide, who was talking to the Espeon who then transmitted to all of us.
“Oxide wishes to know what exactly a Shadow Pokemon is.”
“A Shadow Pokemon,” Blue Coat replied, “is a Pokemon that has had the door to their heart forcibly shut. It locks away their emotions and corrupts their Type Energy into a form that is able to hit all regular Pokemon as if they have a type advantage.”
“We purify their hearts by getting closer to them in and out of battle.” He continued, “Stable emotional connection, and camaraderie erodes away the binding on their hearts, until we can then purify them in a few select locations in Orre, and at the various Gyms here where they can be protected.”
I felt dread crawling up my spine as everything sank in. Cipher’s attacks in Orre were brutal, and coldly executed without a care for anything that was in the way. The way the three were describing what was happening here had me thinking things were possibly going to get much worse before Cipher was stopped.
I reached forward and ran my hand over the Snag Machine. I knew only a fraction of what I was getting into, but I knew I had to do this. Not from a sense of duty to protect Unova, but because of what I was able to do for Obstagoon.
I felt it in my heart that what I just demonstrated I could do was incredibly important, and I owed that to these Pokemon, to help as many of them as possible break the chains laid on their songs and free them from that torment.
I looked up at Blue Coat. He must’ve liked what he saw in my eyes because his return came in the form of a satisfied smile.
“Good, let’s get to work then.” He stepped to the side, and swept his hand out over the roof. “Show us your team, and we’ll see what we have to work with.”
I closed the case and draped it over my shoulder again as I stood up, Emolga flying out on her own to land in front of us. She was quickly joined by Ionia and Tirtouga, who had been listening into the conversation this entire time from within their pokeballs.
“You have a PokeDex kid?”
I handed it to him with a nod, and he quickly scanned the trio before passing it to Michael
“Not especially good for snagging yet, but a solid foundation.” Michael murmured. “Your Emolga having paralysis options helps though.”
Blue Coat nodded, “The most important part about snagging is working to improve the odds that snag balls will confirm their catches. This means you work to load Shadow Pokemon up with as many status conditions as possible, ‘cause each one individually does a lot to prevent the corrupted Type Energy from breaking them out of the balls before they fully latch.”
He ran his fingers through Jumpluff’s cotton, “Jumpluff here is actually quite weak in terms of raw power compared to the rest of my team.” He then gained a wicked smile, “However, Jumpluff’s effectiveness doesn’t come from his ability to hurt his opponents, but his ability to disable them!”
He started ticking up fingers, “Cotton Spore, Leech Seed, Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, Poison Powder, and a host of healing moves. These moves allow Jumpluff to disable unprepared opponents in seconds. And the rest of my team can wear down, or inflict conditions when Jumpluff can’t!”
“It’s all a balance,” Michael interjected, “because you also have to worry about your opponent’s regular Pokemon.”
He blinked at Jumpluff before looking around.
“Where’s Altaria?”
***
Altaria, as it turns out, was still having a staring contest with Lani, the pair having moved over to a public seating area overlooking the plaza.
Rui fixed the girl with a frown, “Please tell me you at least took a break every few minutes!”
“This is so incredibly dumb.” Blue Coat muttered.
Lani returned the look with a pout of her own, “We did! And before you ask we stopped while walking over here as well!”
“Hey, at least it's not the Hexagon Brothers.” Michael muttered in response.
“And as for you Altaria,” Rui leveled a finger at them, “you should know better!”
“They’re at least funny in a ‘how has Cipher not kicked them out yet’ way.” Wes groaned
Rui and Lani both glared at the two men.
“Right, shutting up now.” Michael squeaked.
“Why is Psyche not talking?” Lani demanded. “She left to give you all a package which she still has, and now all she can do is communicate with charades and Psychic Type telephone!”
“That's for her to decide whether to tell you,” Blue Coat growled. “But no, we didn’t do anything to her.”
We had actually discussed this after I told them why Altaria didn’t come back with me. Confidentiality was important to their operation here, and I shouldn’t advertise the fact that I had a Snag Machine of all things, but they said I could tell Lani considering she was traveling with me. Blue Coat made sure to drill into my head that I needed to be sure about telling her though.
I quickly typed out on my phone that I would talk to her about it using Ionia as an intermediary on the way back which seemed to placate her.
I also typed a question out and showed it to Blue Coat
He looked at me with the same glee as someone would have right before watching a League Conference “You’ll see, they’re here in Unova. Just make sure to record whatever they say. It’s always super important.”
Michael coughed, and Rui started harshly whispering at him while poking him in the chest.
Lani turned to me with an arched eyebrow, “you ready to head back to the hotel so I can get caught up?”
I nodded and waved goodbye to Michael before turning to walk away with Lani.
I released Ionia who instantly jumped up onto my shoulder, and after confirming a link was made, I began recounting everything that happened while she was staring down a dragon.
And that's the end of Arc 1! Psyche has been found by adventure whether she likes it or not!
Boilerplate time!
I’d like to give a big thankyou to for help editing!
Pokemon seen this chapter:
Current Team:
Ionia (Hatenna)
Trained Abilities: Anticipation
Moves: Teleport, Confusion, Play Nice, Life Dew, Disarming Voice, Mystical Fire
Oxide (Emolga)
Trained Abilities: TBD
Moves: Nuzzle, Tail Whip, Double Team, Quick Attack, Thundershock
Tirtouga
Trained Abilities: TBD
Moves: Water Gun, Withdraw, Aqua Jet, Smack Down, Ancient Power, Bite
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A Spark of Sylvan Flame A story about a trans farmgirl facing off against plant aliens, with items bought from an AI chip in her head!
Thanks for reading! :D
-DeliriousSprite