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Rattata Chapter 41.5: Set.Up
🕑 Added 2024-09-30 02:00:02 +0000 UTCAN: Welcome to the shortest Rattata chapter you've ever seen, but there was no other way to realistically cut this.
-/-
“And that's when he sent out a Weezing and ordered it to explode,” Joey said dully as he recounted the events of the day to the officer Jenny who had driven him to the police station, and her young male aide whose job it was to type down what Joey had said.
“And one of them was the same man that accosted you at the Nugget Bridge right?” Jenny asked.
“The same guy, if I didn't recognize the face the clothes were the same as well.”
The officer nodded, glancing at the computer that her aid was typing on. “And they clearly identified themselves as Team Rocket?”
Joey nodded knowing that there was no room for miscommunication in cases like this. “Archer for his part seemed to clearly believe that Team Rocket was an organisation that would help the downtrodden achieve the same amounts of money and glory that society deprived them of by not setting the bar for success lower than a daffodil,” he answered.
The woman sitting opposite him in the bland beige office for bland beige children bit at the fingernail on her right thumb before noticing the automatic gesture and putting it down with a slight blush on her face.
“They've been getting more brazen,” she muttered.
“What's their rap sheet? How long are those idiots going to go behind bars?” Joey asked, curious to know how Team Rocket was perceived at this time.
He'd only known them from the anime and the games when they were already a well-established and feared organisation that could hijack the offices of the most successful company in the region and had enough scientists and money to clone a legendary Pokemon.
“They are a group of petty Pokemon thieves. The only difference to what these kinds of people usually do is that they're now called themselves by a specific name and that they have access to rarer Pokemon and better technology. We haven’t been able to discern a clear organisational structure yet, but none of the people we have caught have been more dangerous than, let's say a two-badge trainer,” Jenny explained.
Joey nodded. That had also been the impression that he had gotten. He wasn't going to tell Jenny that they had to nip these problems at the bud since his words weren't going to mean anything. He just hoped that perhaps one of the butterfly flaps of his presence here was going to be Team Rocket getting busted earlier, rather than later. He didn't feel like dealing with criminals for his entire journey just because the police and the League were not consequently rooting them out.
“As for those two we've captured, going by the usual legal procedures, they will get at least five years for endangering the lives of licensed minors, while attempting to steal their Pokemon.”
Joey nodded, not knowing anything about the legal code of the Pokemon world when it came to criminal law. She could have told him that the two Grunts would be forced to dance the salsa for the entertainment of a group of Alakazam for the next 12 years and he would have believed her.
"As for your contribution for helping to put them behind bar-," Jenny started before Joey cut her off.
“I don't want anything, just delete my name from this mess if you can. Organised crime means organised retaliation,” he said, perhaps a bit paranoid.
The officer blinked, pausing in what she was about to say, before coughing into a fist. “Well, alright. we were going to offer you a monetary reward but…”
“Seeing that I received money from the police department can be found out by any half-intelligent hacker or idiot with a Porygon, I don't need that sort of cash,” Joey muttered.
“Alright,” Jenny said. “As for the Pokemon that we have taken from the Team Rocket members. They will have to be rehabilitated first but considering your defeat of Archer, you would have first claim on perhaps integrating them into your team. The League likes this system of reintegration because the Pokémon of criminals have often been abused into doing the acts that they did and don't necessarily fit into the wild anymore.”
The youngster tilted his head for a second while thinking about it. They wanted him to help integrate the captured Pokemon of the Team Rocket criminals back into society? Archer had a Raticate, a Houndour and a Weezing. He wasn't really interested in any of those three Pokemon without first seeing their mettle in terms of being willing to work hard and having the same goals as him. However, it did break his heart to know that those Pokemon had been enslaved by what were likely cruel masters and forced to commit deeds against their own moral code at the threat of…
“Is it a temporary position with a team expansion if I took one of them?” he asked.
Jenny nodded. “After a period which you can determine with a nurse Joy in your area, they can be given to another trainer if you don't want them for longer. So don’t worry, you can let them go if they aren’t a good fit for your team. You would also receive an additional stipend for the additional difficulties of taking care of such Pokemon.”
Joey considered for a few seconds. He didn't want the cash reward because of the trace it would lay back to him. However, rehabilitating the Pokemon would be a much more noble gesture than simply taking the money to defend himself and Daisy.
“Can I think about it?” he asked.
Officer Jenny nodded, “We will contact you when the Pokemon have been cleared. It's a process that generally takes two to three months and after that time it is still possible that they are beyond help.”
“All right, call me when it's time,” Joey said.
“Good and for now I would ask you to go outside and wait while we have the same conversation with Miss Waterflower. It shouldn't take long, just an hour.”
Joey stood up and nodded to the transcriber and the Jenny. He left the room with very complicated feelings flitting around in his head.
This whole day had been a complete mess, he thought as he locked eyes with King who was sitting next to Daisy on the pathetic plastic chairs that the police station corridor had available for their visitors.
“They're asking for Daisy,” the youngster said, which caused the young girl to stand up and hug her father once again before walking into the interview room. This left Joey alone in the corridor with the gym leader.
The man, decisive in thought as he was in action, promptly stood up and walked to Joey to hold out his hand.
Joey took it and they shook.
“Thanks for being there with my daughter,” the man said. “The Rockets were clearly there for her perhaps to get some leverage over me and the way I have been cracking down on them lately.”
“I was just a little side snack then?” Joey mused humorously.
King chuckled, his moustache and belly quivering. “Well, if anything you would be the pistachio cake that the cook forgot to shell. They sure broke their teeth on you!”
“I'm more worried for the people who are not hard enough to defend themselves against brazen attacks like this,” Joey confided. “It's a worrying thought that there are people like this running around.”
King narrowed his eyes and for all the fact that he looked like a jolly old man, there was danger in that gaze. “You can trust me on the fact that they won't be doing so for very long," he promised darkly. His tone and mien switched rapidly however as he refocused his eyes on the youngster
“As for the gym challenge, I'm afraid-” he started but the youngster cut him off.
“Unforeseen events like this are a fact of life, I understand. There's probably some sort of bureaucratic rule in the League system that if the applicant does not fulfil exactly the specifications of the job they fail.”
King nodded slowly. “Unfortunately. Whereas in a battle, it is at our discretion to whom we reward a badge considering that the challenger simply has to showcase the appropriate mastery of battling for the level they are trying to prove, gym challenges as the one that you have done are much more strict. We have to log a job in advance, and in rewarding the badge we can only regard it as a success or failure."
Joey nodded and went past the man to sit down with a sigh more befitting of someone 40 years his age.
“I respect your moral integrity if nothing else,” he decided. “It is when one starts bending rules, that one starts noticing more and more situations in which one could do so. This is true for moral principles, as well as for simple laws and procedures such as this.”
“I'm glad you understand,” King said apologetically.
“Understanding does not precede peace, it simply gives emotional depth to misery,” Joey drawled, which obviously caught the gym leader off guard because he paused in his movement of sitting down as well to consider the words.
“Perhaps, but maybe if you're willing there is another way to resolve the situation so that you can return to Saffron successfully tomorrow,” he said.
Joey considered his words before hanging his head. “A gym battle.” It seemed that however much he tried to avoid certain things that he was meant to go through, they had a habit of catching up.
King seemed to take that as an agreement because his next words were. “If your Pokemon are feeling well enough, we can have it today.”
Joey hadn't had the time to discuss with his team yet, because he had just exited the interview room.
“You mean you could have the earth transported here to terraform the environment for Diglett to be able to participate in just a few hours?” Joey asked. That surprised him, it was, after all, already seven in the evening. In terms of procedures, he had to remain at the police station until Daisy herself finished questioning at which point it would be really impossible to catch the prerequisite amount of Pokemon again. The gym challenge was essentially done.
“ I could have it done in an hour,” King promised.
“Let me go outside and discuss it with my team,” Joey decided. He couldn’t make this decision alone. For his team, this would be the first gym battle that they went into completely unprepared, and he had to know if they were up for the challenge. Additionally, in terms of odds, they had never stood so little of a chance before. Not only were they going in completely unprepared, but they were also going in against the gym leader who they were the least suited to fighting.
However, wasn't that what being a trainer was all about? Going Plus Ultra and not giving up regardless of the odds?
He walked out of the corridor and passed the police officer at the reception desk who didn't seem overly bothered by his leaving, simply telling him to stay in the area to be recalled if needed. This left Joey standing in front of the police station which had calmed down immeasurably in comparison to how he’d found it when he’d first driven here a few hours ago.
Without any preamble he released his team, who all tensely stood at attention, warily eyeing their surroundings. Even Diglett and Metapod, who had stayed inside their Pokeballs had still caught on to some of what had occurred earlier. Theirs was a rudimentary understanding, but an understanding nonetheless.
“Our gym challenge was interrupted by criminal elements. Unfortunately, this does not mean that we get a pass, but rather that we failed through no fault of our own,” Joey said.
At his words Diglett sunk into himself even further, while Metapod angrily spat a blob of poison to the ground in front of her, it sizzled on the ground, bringing with it the acrid smell of chemically dissolving grass.
Rattata for his part simply took it in stride, nodding once and letting that be his reaction.
“However, we have received an offer from the gym leader to face him in battle with a terrain suitably changed to make it possible for our team to move,” Joey said which caused Rattata and Diglett to perk up. Metapod still seemed dissatisfied.
“I won't lie to you, I think that this is the toughest gym battle we will likely ever walk into. We'll be more prepared for every single one of them in the future and also less disadvantaged. But, we’re a team that is used to fighting above our weight limit simply for the sheer pleasure and experience of it. I say that we treat this in a similar manner and if we win, we win and if we lose we come back to crush this place in return when we come back in the future,” Joey said.
At his words, his Pokemon shared a series of resolute looks before nodding at each other all seemingly agreeing to participate.
Their willingness had never been in question. Joey had managed to gather around himself an incredibly motivated, and hard-working team of Pokemon whom he was blessed to spend his days with.
He simply hadn't thought before that the gym battle in this location was the best option for them. But now, it was the only option.
Just like how his first battle against Michael had gone all those months ago when he’d ordered Rattata to meet the descending Pidgey in a Tackle collision for the off-chance that it was them walking out of it.
This was simply another calculated gamble utilising the resources they had to achieve the maximum amount of things that they could.
“Life is just a gamble in which you don't know the odds,” Joey said to his Pokemon. “Most people refrain from risking anything, but not taking a chance is actually the only losing move available in this world.”
“Let's do this.”
-/-
AN: So Joey was unable to change the need for a battle, which means he's going in quite unprepared comparably. Let's see how he does...
Comments
bor902
I guess we'll see :=P
Mrsean22
Hmmm that sucks. Honestly can't see him winning this Gym battle. His pokemon don't have a lot of options of fighting water pokemon in their home field advantage. So it's gonna take a long time to get his fourth pokemon Misdreavus.
Apostle_of_Tea
Excited for when he'll get to strut his stuff. Everything has been a challenge so far, can't wait too have him learn what normal trainers at his "Skill level" are doing.
bor902
To make up for the short length, it was this chapter that was sooner actually. Only two days since previous update.
Green0Photon
Hopefully the next update is sooner due to the shorter chapter. But yeah, it would have been weird to cut at a different point.
