Are We Heroes?

[Gama]

I had this idea a while ago, but I haven't had time to write it. I've finally finished my exams so here is Part 1! It's going to be a story in five parts, I hope you enjoy. I think I'll update this on a weekly basis.


Part 1

It doesn’t feel like it but we’re going at an incredible speed, something to do with velocity and acceleration, going fast and feeling like you’re not, I don’t really understand it myself, that’s not my area of expertise. Boss tells me it’s fine though, nothing to worry about, we’re definitely moving. We should be in Veilstone City any minute now, and then it’s my time to shine. My father was a Frontier Brain in Hoenn, probably still is, he always hoped I’d be as good at battling as him, I think I probably am. I’m not nearly as old as he was when he became a Brain though and I’m probably just as good, I’m gonna be fifteen in a few months. I don’t own any Pokémon though; I just know the theory side of things, again, kind of like Dad. Net’s in charge of the catching of Pokémon, this whole project depends on him. It depends on all of us really. Net’s not his real name of course, just like mine isn’t Brains, Boss’ isn’t Boss and Trooper’s isn’t Trooper, they’re all codenames, Boss says we need them so people won’t come after us and our families. It makes sense I suppose. I don’t know too much about Boss, Net and Trooper, but I know some.

Net is in charge of catching Pokémon, that’s where his name comes from. He’s probably in his late teens, around nineteen, I think. If it weren’t for Net we wouldn’t have this airship at all. Well, we would, but it wouldn’t be going anywhere, Lugia and Ho-oh ferry us around the globe so that we can defend the world from bad guys. Net caught Lugia and Ho-oh before Boss even recruited him, that’s probably part of the reason he was recruited. Net has loads of Legendary Pokémon, like Suicune, Moltres, Latias, his Pokémon are from all over the world but he says he got most of them in Johto and Kanto. Johto is where Net’s from, Newbark Town to be specific, I don’t really know anything else about him. Most of the Legendary Pokémon he has don’t get much use because I’m the only one who battles out of us and I don’t like using Legendary Pokémon unless I absolutely have to, it takes the fun out of a battle. Boss hates that, he says I should, but I’m the one battling so I get to decide.

Trooper’s from somewhere in Sinnoh, Snowpoint City, I think. She’s gotta be in her early twenties, maybe twenty five at the oldest. She knows everything there is to know about training and evolving Pokémon. After Net catches the Pokémon I order, it’s up to Trooper to train it, evolve it and make sure it knows all the moves I want it to know, sometimes she even breeds them if the one Net catches isn’t up to scratch. She’s a real hard worker, I have no idea how many Pokémon she’s trained over her life but it’s gotta be loads. Between her and Net I bet they could fill up the whole National Pokédex.

That just leaves Boss. What is there to say about Boss really? He’s the boss, a really typical boss too. He’s a man in his thirties and he always wears a suit and talks like he’s better than you and in most cases he probably is. This World Police thing was all his idea. He was disgusted with the amount of atrocious behaviour that goes on in the world. The police just don’t have the strength to stop it because the best Pokémon trainers inevitably become Gym Leaders or members of the Elite Four who only care about maintaining their win streak, or worse still, Champions who wander the land smiting any foe they happen across but never looking at the bigger picture. Net was a Champion once, but Boss picked him out, telling him he was better than that. Boss found the best catcher in the world, that was Net, the best trainer in the world, that was Trooper and the best battler in the world, that was me. He only has one Pokémon himself, his Weavile, it’s a horrible thing and I hate it. It’s the only Pokémon on board that won’t listen to me and I don’t want it to anyway, I have my own Weavile and I’d never use that horrible creature if I could avoid it. Boss is a nice enough guy but he can pretty ruthless, he never takes prisoners and he never gives second chances.

I suddenly feel the change in speed because we’re slowing down, that’s called deceleration Boss told me. I can hear Lugia and Ho-oh roaring, they’re pleased with themselves because they’ve completed their task. We’re at Veilstone City. All four of us exit the airship, Weavile follows behind, Boss never keeps it in its Poké Ball.

‘Lugia, Ho-oh,’ orders Boss, ‘Stay in the air, we’ll call when we need you.’

I feel sorry for Lugia and Ho-oh, Boss hardly ever lets them stop flying.

‘Come on,’ growls Boss, noticing me lagging behind, ‘This is all on you, Brains.’
‘Yes sir,’ I reply.

The four of us march up to the doors of Galactic HQ and Boss raps his knuckles across the metal doors. It’s a horrible building, there are spikes all over it, it’s like the people who designed it were desperate for Team Galactic to be seen as villains. The door opens and a blue haired man with a bowl cut wearing a silver jumpsuit with a stylized ‘G’ emblazoned on it.

‘What?’ sneers the man, obviously a Grunt.
‘Let us in please,’ requests Boss politely.
‘Tell me who you are,’ responds the Grunt, ‘And I’ll think about it.’

Boss clears his throat and smiles. It seems like this is the response he wanted, he put his hand on the back of Weavile’s head, who takes a step forwards.

‘I will ask you nicely one more time,’ states Boss, ‘Let us in please.’
‘And I’ll tell you one more time,’ retorts the Grunt, ‘Tell me who you are and I’ll think about it.’

I wish he hadn’t said that. I wish he’d just let Boss in. I know what’s going to happen now.

‘Weavile,’ snaps Boss, not even glancing at his Pokémon, ‘You know what to do.’

Weavile cries excitedly, dashes forwards and runs its right claw down the middle of the Grunt’s body. The Grunt looks down at his own body in shock for no more than half a second, then falls to the floor, bleeding profusely.

‘Did you have to kill him?’ I ask.
‘No mercy, Brains,’ replies Boss simply, ‘You know that.’

I sometimes wish I saw things as black and white as Boss does. Boss leads us through the Headquarters, it’s as if he already knows where to go. Weavile kills more Grunts and even a few more important looking people. Then we arrive at a door. Boss knocks again.

‘Who is it?’ comes a voice from within, ‘Is that you, Mars? About time!’
‘It’s not Mars,’ replies Boss, clearly enjoying himself, ‘Let us in.’
‘The door’s open,’ the same voice responds.

There’s a man standing behind a desk and there’s a Toxicroak standing in front of the desk. It shudders as Weavile walks into the room.

‘What do you want?’ snaps the man behind the desk.

I’ve seen his picture before; I knew he was the target all along. It’s obvious he’s the Commander here, he’s wearing different clothes to everyone else. His hair is blue and it’s spiked up on either side, he looks ridiculous. His name is Saturn.

‘Well, Brains?’ asked Boss, turning to me, ‘What do you want first?’

I stand behind Boss and Weavile, Trooper and Net stand behind me.

‘Rattata,’ I reply.

Boss nods and smiles, he knows what I’m going to do.

‘Rattata?’ repeats Saturn in disbelief, ‘Toxicroak, just Brick Break it as soon as you see it.’

Net smiles and grabs Rattata’s Poké Ball from his belt. He knows what I’m going to do too.

I send out Rattata and, ever obedient to his master, Toxicroak immediately hits it with a Brick Break.

‘Endeavour,’ I say quickly.

Rattata manages to survive Toxicroak’s hit. It’s wearing a Focus Sash, which means it will survive anything as long as it was on full HP before the attack. Rattata moves in a strange way and Toxicroak ends up on the same amount of health as it is, that being next to nothing.

‘Quick Attack,’ I order.

Rattata darts forwards and makes Toxicroak, an enemy well over twice its size, topple. All it took was two moves too; Pokémon battling really is about brains over brawn. Saturn looks at his unconscious Toxicroak in complete disbelief. He’s not a rookie though, he knows not to waste his time thinking about it and just to get on with sending the next Pokémon out. A Crobat.

‘Have Ninjask ready,’ I call back to Net.
‘Got it,’ replies Net.

Saturn orders a Wing Attack and Rattata is knocked out. Net tosses me Ninjask’s Poké Ball.

‘Agility,’ I order.

Ninjask’s Speed rises, as if it wasn’t fast enough already. Its power is Speed Boost, so that raises it on top of the Agility, between the two it’ll just take one more turn to be at maximum speed.

‘Air Slash,’ orders Saturn.

Crobat obeys and does a decent amount of damage to Ninjask, in fact, it takes away almost half of its health. Two more of those and Ninjask will be knocked out.

‘Agility,’ I order again.
‘Air Slash,’ Saturn orders a second time.

The same thing as the previous turn happens.

‘Baton Pass,’ I order, ‘Give me Snorlax.’

Before Crobat can do anything, Ninjask flies backwards into its Poké Ball, Net passes me Snorlax’s Poké Ball and I send Snorlax on to the field. Crobat hits Snorlax with an Air Slash, but it doesn’t do too much damage. Since Baton Pass passes on the stat changes of the first Pokémon to the second, what I’ve created is a speedy Snorlax. It’s still not fast, it is a Snorlax after all, but it should be faster than Saturn’s Crobat now.

‘Belly Drum,’ I command.

Saturn orders another Air Slash. I pity him, he has fairly strong Pokémon but he simply doesn’t know how to use them. Repeatedly using a strong move isn’t going to get you anywhere. Snorlax is on extremely low health now though, between the damage caused by the two Air Slash attacks and its own Belly Drum, it sustained a lot of damage – a Leech Life would probably be able to knock it out now, but it’s not going to.

‘Rest,’ I order.

That’s quite a predictable move though, Saturn probably expected that. He smiles as if this was part of his plan, or at least as if he thinks he can work this to his advantage. I pity him even more, I know what he’s thinking. He thinks he can use Air Slash twice while Snorlax is asleep and get it down to around half health. I could have Snorlax Rest again, but there’d be no point, the same thing would just keep happening then. He knows that I’ve got to keep Snorlax awake to do at least one move to make it all worthwhile, in which time he thinks he can knock Snorlax out, but he’s wrong. I’m not sure exactly what he’s planning but none of it’s going to work so it doesn’t matter.

‘Body Slam,’ I order.

Saturn has a double take. Snorlax is awake after having only just used Rest. He didn’t see the Chesto Berry that was positioned just above Snorlax’s mouth. It dropped in after Snorlax fell asleep and the horrible, musty taste woke it up. Crobat can’t move fast enough and it’s trapped underneath Snorlax. Between Snorlax’s maxed out Attack and Speed stats, there was nothing Saturn could have done to save Crobat, it was all over.

Saturn begins to look worried and grabs another Poké Ball from his belt. It looks like this is his last one. He sends out a Bronzong.

‘Giga Impact,’ I order.

It’s ineffective, but it’s so strong that that doesn’t matter. Trooper trained and bred this Snorlax in a very specific way to make sure it had the highest Speed and Attack that a Snorlax could ever have, I don’t really know how she did it, but she did it and it works brilliantly. Bronzong is knocked out in one move. I think my Pokémon are a higher level too, that helps. Saturn withdraws Bronzong.

‘Please,’ begs Saturn, ‘I don’t know why you’re here, but, please, have mercy.’
‘No mercy,’ retorts Boss, ‘Never have mercy.’
‘Why?’ questions Saturn, ‘What have I done?’
‘You were a major part of Team Galactic during its criminal activities,’ explains Boss, ‘If it weren’t for you, it is very likely that Team Galactic would not have been able to commit the atrocities that it did.’
‘But I’ve turned Team Galactic around!’ protests Saturn, ‘We don’t exploit people or Pokémon anymore! We’re trying to make the world a better place, but I’ve learnt from Cyrus’ mistakes that extremism isn’t the way to do that! Can’t you at least take that into account?’
‘I’ve heard enough,’ snaps Boss, he never was one for listening, I’m surprised he listened this much.

Weavile takes a few steps forward, sensing that it is about to be summoned.

‘Weavile,’ addresses Boss, exactly as he had done before, ‘You know what to do.’

Saturn tries to run but he’s just too slow, Weavile is an incredibly quick creature. Weavile darts forward and runs its claw across Saturn’s chest, then sticks them straight through his stomach, just to be sure.

‘Well done, Weavile,’ congratulates Boss, ‘We’re done here.’

Boss turns to the rest of us.

‘Well done all of you,’ he says earnestly, ‘We couldn’t have done it if even one of you weren’t here. You’re all heroes.’

But should we have done it? Team Galactic are gone but Saturn genuinely seemed penitent – maybe they could have been a force for good after all? Are we really heroes?

 

[poke_pika_yoshi15]

It's exciting and nice and well written.

 

[Kimori-Hinoarashi]

This is great! Great discription and moral qualms. Question: Did Toxicroak shudder when Weaville entered the room because of its Anticipation ability?

 

[Gama]

This is great! Great discription and moral qualms. Question: Did Toxicroak shudder when Weaville entered the room because of its Anticipation ability?

Correct. Nice spot.

Thanks for the kind words, both of you.

 

[Kimori-Hinoarashi]

Correct. Nice spot.

Thanks for the kind words, both of you.

Does Weavile know Aerial Ace, Dig, Dream Eater, or Mud Slap, then?

 

[Gama]

Does Weavile know Aerial Ace, Dig, Dream Eater, or Mud Slap, then?

You'll have to wait and see. Haha.

Part 2

‘What Pokémon do you want?’ asks Boss, ‘Do you even need anymore?’
‘I have almost everything I want,’ I reply, ‘I just need two more, then I don’t think I’ll need anymore.’
‘What are they?’ asks Boss.
‘I want a Quagsire with Waterfall, Avalanche and Toxic,’ I answer, ‘And an Ampharos with Signal Beam, Thunder, Power Gem and Rain Dance.’


Boss nods, turns and repeats my order to Net.

‘Got it,’ answers Net, ‘I’ll head to the Ruins of Alph for a Wooper and I’ll grab a Mareep on Route 32, which is just nearby, unless you’d prefer a Flaafy, Trooper?’
‘You know I like them as weak as possible,’ snaps Trooper impatiently, ‘I don’t need handicaps, get a Mareep.’
‘We don’t have time to deviate from our current course,’ interrupts Boss, ‘We can drop you nearby Mt. Silver, but you’ll have to Fly from there.’
‘That’s fine,’ responds Net.

Net never was one to make a big deal out of things, in fact, I think he prefers relying on his Pokémon to flying around in the airship.

‘Take Rayquaza,’ orders Boss.
‘I’d rather take Kenya if that’s alright,’ defies Net, ‘She’s a bit more low key, I don’t wanna scare the Pokémon off.’
‘Fine,’ concedes Boss, ‘Get her out of the hold.’

Kenya is Net’s Fearow. He got her a very long time ago, he didn’t actually catch her though. Someone gave her to him as a Spearow so that he could deliver a letter for them, but they let him keep the Pokémon itself. Kenya and Net have a bond that I have never had with a Pokémon, I guess it’s because I’ve never had a Pokémon for as long as they’ve been together. Without waiting for word from Boss, Net opens up the hatch door of the airship and dives out, sending out Kenya while free-falling. Predictably, she catches him with plenty of time to spare and the two of them Fly off into the distance, presumably towards Violet City and the Ruins of Alph.

‘He’s a liability,’ grumbles Boss to me and Trooper.

Boss is always grumbling about Net and Trooper. I wonder if he grumbles about me when I’m not around – I’d be more surprised if he didn’t. I was delighted when Boss came to the Hoenn Battle Frontier and invited me to join him; the Battle Frontier was so boring. At least the Battle Frontier was safe, this life is so stressful. At the time Boss promised me that he would allow me to return to the Battle Frontier so that I could take over from my father when he retired, but now I’m not so sure he will. Whenever I talk about giving this up he always lectures me about all the good we’re doing. He has a list, I’ve seen it, it has a lot of names on it. That’s the hit list. The hit list has everyone we’re supposed to be ‘taking care of’ on it. They’re all bad people, or so Boss says anyway, he’s the one who devised the hit list. Team Galactic is gone now, that’s all thanks to us, except for Cyrus, the founder, he pretty much took care of himself. Team Aqua doesn’t exist anymore either, in fact, plenty of evil ‘teams’ have fallen at our hands. Anyway, there’s only one more person on the hit list, apparently he’s the last person surviving who had anything to do with Team Rocket. Boss always says you have to clean up every last scrap, the Team Rocket revival that Net dealt with a few years ago is a living testament to that. As soon as we’ve dealt with the last person on our hit list, I think I’m gonna go back to the Battle Frontier, maybe my father would let me do some of his battles for him as long as he was still officially the Brain. I’d really like that.

‘Give him a break,’ answers Trooper, ‘He’s nineteen, he wants to have some fun. He’s too young to have the weight of the world on his shoulders.’

Nineteen. I was right. How did Trooper know that when I didn’t?

‘What about Brains?’ retorts Boss, ‘He’s not like that and he’s even younger. Brains is totally reliable, he never does stupid things like that.’
‘Brains is only fourteen,’ replies Trooper, ‘You mean he’s not like that yet.’

Boss just sighs in response; it’s obvious he doesn’t have a comeback to that. Trooper is kind of like the second in charge of the group, she organises things when Boss isn’t around. I don’t know much about Trooper’s background and history, all I know is that she’s from Snowpoint City and she’s lived in Sinnoh for all of her life. Boss walks away from me and Trooper.

‘Brains,’ Boss calls back, ‘Come with me please.’

That means he doesn’t want to speak to Trooper. I look to Trooper to make sure it’s alright if I go, I like her a lot more than I like Boss after all. Trooper nods to indicate that it is alright, I knew she would. I nod back as a thank you and run after Boss, I’ve lost sight of him, but I know where he’s going – he’s going back to his office.

‘Take a seat,’ instructs Boss as soon as I open the door of his office, he’s already sitting down.

I do so straight away, I hardly ever question Boss’ orders – he is the boss after all. Boss’ office is pretty nice, there’s bookshelves filled with books all around the room, but I don’t think he’s read any of them. If you saw this office alone you wouldn’t think we were sailing across the sky at an incredible speed, you’d think we were in a mansion or something.

‘You’re sure all you need is the Quagsire and the Ampharos?’ he asks.
‘Yes, I’m sure,’ I answer, I just can’t wait to be done with all this.
‘Are you sure you don’t want Trooper to teach one of the Legendaries some moves?’ checks Boss, this must be the millionth time he has asked me this, ‘I know you don’t usually use them, but they might be useful as a back up.’
‘I don’t need Legendaries,’ I explain, I feel like a broken record, ‘It’s unfair anyway, hardly anyone in the world has Legendaries, it’s just bullying.’
‘What if someone did have a Legendary?’ asks Boss.
‘Then I’d consider it,’ I respond, ‘But even then, I’d only do it if I absolutely had to. Using a Legendary feels like cheating. Trooper doesn’t like them either.’
‘Trooper doesn’t matter!’ snaps Boss, raising from his seat in a sudden rage, he then regains his composure and returns to his seat, ‘You’re the only one that matters, you know. Net and Trooper aren’t important, even I’m just deadweight, you’re the really special one.’

This doesn’t make me feel good; it makes me feel like I’m betraying the others.

‘Thank you,’ I reply, ‘But I don’t want to use Legendaries.’
‘Fine,’ hisses Boss, ‘That’s your choice. Anyway, make sure you’re prepared for this next battle. It’s going to be your toughest yet, this guy isn’t joking around, you know.’
‘I know,’ I answer, ‘Didn’t you say Net has battled him before?’
‘Yes,’ replies Boss, ‘Net has beaten him in battle before, but he’s been training a lot since then and Net hasn’t. I doubt Net could beat him now. In fact, I think the four of us working together are the only group of people who stand the remotest chance against him.’
‘I’ll beat him,’ I assure Boss, ‘I never lose. You know that.’
‘I know,’ answers Boss faithfully, ‘But there’s a first time for everything and if you’re going to lose against someone, it’s going to be Red.’

I nod. I’ve heard this all before.

‘It’s just that Net has put a lot of effort into catching those Legendaries,’ urged Boss, ‘It seems like a shame to allow them to go to waste.’
‘He caught most of them before you ever met him in person,’ I retorted, now getting quite annoyed at Boss’ insistence, ‘And the ones we got since then weren’t caught by Net, they were plundered!’
‘Plundered!’ quotes Boss with disgust, ‘Need I remind you, Brains, that we have taken the role of world police into our hands?’
‘No,’ I insist, trying to spare myself the lecture, I know it’s no use trying though.
‘I think I do,’ continued Boss, ‘I don’t think you’re taking this job seriously. We don’t just go around taking care of people who we feel like taking care of – you know that. You know we have a list.’
‘I know,’ I sigh.
‘I don’t hide from you why people are on the list,’ lectures Boss, ‘You know what these people have done and why they need to be taken care of and, most importantly, how they’ve been able to do it.’
‘Yes,’ I answer, trying to give the minimum input required to make Boss’ lecture go away.
‘How then?’ questions Boss.

I hate it when he forces me to engage him.

‘With their Pokémon,’ I answer.
‘Well then,’ continues Boss, happy that I gave the right answer, ‘Once we’ve taken care of the person, we’ve taken care of the motives, we’ve gotten rid of the person who will inevitably do wrong if they are given the chance but what about the means? Their Pokémon are the means, if the means fall into someone else’s hands, who’s to say that they won’t get the same desires as their previous owners?’
‘I know,’ I say impatiently.

I regret ever suggesting that we plunder Pokémon. Even though it’s true.

‘Then surely the only people we can trust with these Pokémon are us!’ announces Boss.
‘I suppose,’ I answer.
‘Of course,’ admits Boss with a smile, ‘It’s massively advantageous to have such strong Pokémon on our side.’

There it is. It is awfully convenient that it’s all the bad guys that have the Legendary Pokémon that Boss loves so much, sometimes I wonder if Boss’ list is all that accurate. If these people really did do what Boss claims they did, sometimes they just seem so innocent. The familiar feeling of deceleration – no time to think about this now, I’ve got a battle to win and apparently it’s going to be my toughest yet.

Boss and I walk to the main hatch door of the airship, where Trooper is still standing.

‘Have fun?’ teases Trooper.

The airship gets slower and slower until we finally land. We all exit.

‘You should be safe here,’ says Boss to Lugia and Ho-oh, ‘Take a rest and build up your strength.’

Trooper is holding a big bag of Poké Balls, the ones that I requested. Boss has a few on his belt too.

‘What are they?’ I ask.
‘Legendaries,’ he answers.
‘I told you I didn’t want any,’ I retort in annoyance.
‘Just in case you change your mind,’ explains Boss calmly.

The three of us begin walking, there’s a lot of Pokémon around here, but Boss has got plenty of Repels so we don’t need to waste our time with them. We get to the mouth of the cave.

‘So where’s Red?’ I ask.
‘Right at the back of the cave,’ answers Boss.
‘Well let’s get going then,’ says Trooper.

 

[Kimori-Hinoarashi]

Red is evil?! I think that Boss is really Giovanni! Awesome chapter, I can't wait for the next one.

 

[Wheels]

Wow! This is amazing work. As usual Gastly, you've outdone yourself. I like how Brains is self conscious. I wonder who Boss really is... well anyway nice job!

 

[AceTrainer14]

This is a really good story. I quite liked the mention of Kenya the Spearow. I can't wait to see what happens with Red!

 

[Gama]

Thanks everyone for reading and replying. Also, don't forget - it's the Rival's Story anniversary special! Anyway, here is Part 3 - please tell me what you think!

Part 3

Cold sweat drips down my forehead, Boss wasn’t lying.

This battle sort of reminds me of one of the time’s my father was beaten, that was a long time ago though and I was very young.

I wonder where Net is – has he caught the Mareep and the Wooper yet?

That doesn’t matter right now; I need to focus on what’s going on right now. Trooper and Boss are right behind me and they’re depending on me.

We’ve each suffered four losses already. Snorlax, Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise for Red. Garchomp, Tyranitar, Magnezone and Gengar for me. Now he’s using Pikachu and I’m using Houndoom. I think I can win but I don’t know. This battle has been pretty challenging so far, but it’s been a case of each of us losing Pokémon at the same rate. He was winning, his Snorlax was a really formidable opponent and it looked like it was going to beat my Gengar with its Shadow Ball attack but I managed to take it out with a surprise Explosion. Red wasn’t expecting that, Trooper had to breed it to get it that move. Anyway, here we are and I’ve just sent out Houndoom and Red’s just sent out Pikachu.

It wasn’t easy clambering all the way through Mt. Silver. Even with Boss’ Repels, Pokémon still attacked us; many of them were too strong to be scared by that sort of thing. Red had been living in Mt. Silver like a hermit for years, the beard he had grown in this time made him look very different from the photos that Boss had shown me.

‘Who are you?’ Red asked when he saw us.

The look in his eyes told me he hadn’t seen another human in years. Why had he been here for so long? Maybe he felt guilty about everything he’d done with Team Rocket.

‘We’re the good guys,’ replied Boss.

I would’ve liked to explain a little more but Boss didn’t give me a chance.

‘Take it away, Brains,’ ordered Boss.

I nodded.

‘This has all been for you then,’ commented Red, ‘I knew there was a reason I was training. There was someone I had to prepare for. There was someone a few years ago, I thought it’d be him again, but he’s not here.’

‘He couldn’t make it,’ hissed Boss.

I think Red had started to go a little crazy in all his years of solitude. He had his Pokémon for company, but how much did that count for? I’ve never formed a bond with a Pokémon, I don’t understand how trainers can, my father always raised me to treat Pokémon as tools – that was what he did.

‘Brains,’ snaps Boss, bringing me out of my dream world, ‘Do you need Groudon? It’d make quick work of that Pikachu.’

‘No,’ I reply, ‘You know I don’t use legendaries.’

‘Suit yourself,’ grumbles Boss, still annoyed that I won’t use legendaries, ‘Will you at least switch to a Ground type?’

‘No,’ I answer, ‘I can beat him with Houndoom.’

‘I don’t know who you are,’ shouts Red from across the cavern, ‘Or what you think I’ve done, but I’m gonna kill you. You understand that, right? I’m not gonna let people like you walk around doing the things you’re doing! I stopped Team Rocket and now I’ll stop you!’

I look to Boss – he stopped Team Rocket?

‘You didn’t stop Team Rocket,’ retorts Boss calmly, ‘My good friend, Net, stopped Team Rocket. You helped Team Rocket hide, helped them go under the radar until the time was right. We know everything, Red, there is no use lying.’

I’m not sure whether Boss said that for Red’s benefit or for mine.

Red doesn’t reply, he just barks an order to Pikachu.

‘Volt Tackle!’ he cries.

Pikachu darts forward and hits Houndoom with a spectacularly powerful electric attack, both Pokémon are knocked backwards. Houndoom is injured considerably.

‘Fire Blast,’ I order.

Fortunately, Red’s Venusaur’s Sunny Day from earlier is still in effect, giving Houndoom’s Fire Blast a minimal boost in power. Pikachu is hit with a torrent of fire, but it’s not enough, the damn thing still gets back up. This Houndoom is one of my most powerful Pokémon, this Pikachu must be an incredibly high level, probably the highest level Pokémon that I’ve ever battled against.

‘Struggling?’ interjects Boss with a smile, ‘I told you that you would. Do you want Groudon now?’
‘I don’t need Groudon!’ I snap in response.

I’m getting pretty tired of Boss underestimating me, I don’t need legendaries to beat this guy when he isn’t using any. This Red guy is tough, but he’s totally manageable. Neither of our Pokémon have much health remaining now, I just have to make sure that Houndoom strikes Pikachu and that it doesn’t strike back, then it should be in the bag.

‘Dark Pulse,’ I order calmly.

Dark Pulse should knock Pikachu out after that Fire Blast. Even if it doesn’t, I’m hoping Pikachu will flinch, giving Houndoom an opportunity to finish it off. Houndoom will be much faster, so there’s no chance that Pikachu will be able to do a thing against it. If that Pikachu were evolved, it might have been able to out speed Houndoom. Why wasn’t it evolved anyway? It must have learnt all of its moves a long time ago, there’s no reason for Red to keep it in that form – I suppose he has his reasons.

‘Quick Attack,’ retorts Red.

Damn. Pikachu darts forwards and attacks Houndoom. I wasn’t expecting that. I didn’t think a Pikachu at such a high level would still have the Quick Attack manoeuvre. After all, why should it? Quick Attack is not a particularly powerful move, its only real advantage is that it is infinitely faster than any other move and I can’t imagine it’s very often that Red comes up against a Pokémon that is a high enough level to come anywhere near challenging his Pikachu in terms of speed. He really doesn’t underestimate his opponents. Houndoom falls to the ground.

‘What are you waiting for?’ challenges Red.

I’ve been thinking for a while now. Red is an amazing trainer, definitely the best I’ve ever battled, but is he better than me? I turn to Boss and Trooper, I need my next Pokémon.

‘Groudon?’ suggests Boss.
‘No!’ I snap.
‘Dugtrio then?’ asks Boss earnestly.
‘No,’ I reply, more calmly this time.

Dugtrio would be worthless. My next Pokémon should be able to take out Pikachu relatively easily, it must be on very low health now. I have to think about what Pokémon he’s going to use next. This guy is a pretty incredible battler, so he’s probably got a really well built team. So far he’s had Snorlax, which is Normal type, weak against only Fighting types, Charizard, which is Fire and Flying, weak against Water, Electric and significantly weak against Rock types, Venusaur, which is Grass and Poison, weak against Fire, Bug, Psychic and Flying, Blastoise which is just Water, weak only to Electric and Grass and now he has Pikachu, Electric, which is weak only to Ground types.

His last Pokémon is really difficult to predict because so many types are covered by the Pokémon on his team I’ve already seen. In all likelihood, it’s just going to be something with moves of several different types. A Dragon type is fairly likely.

‘Salamence,’ I order.

I’ll fight his Dragon type with my own Dragon type. He’s a Kanto trainer, so I’m sure his will be Dragonite. Trooper retrieves Salamence’s Poké Ball from the bag she is carrying and tosses it to me.

‘Dragon Rush,’ I order.

I order it for the same reason as Dark Pulse, but this time it’s different. I do learn from mistakes. I order Dragon Rush because a Quick Attack couldn’t come anywhere close to beating Salamence. If Red does order Quick Attack again, Dragon Rush will hit Pikachu and will probably knock it out. If Red does not order Quick Attack, he’ll probably go all out and order another Volt Tackle, in the hope that Pikachu will survive the Dragon Rush attack. Hopefully if Pikachu does survive, it will flinch and will thus not have the opportunity to use Volt Tackle.

‘Quick Attack,’ commands Red.

Pikachu darts forward and hits Salamence and is quickly knocked out. Red knew Pikachu could never survive a Dragon Rush, so he decided to what little damage he could, I guess.

‘You’re in a corner now, Red,’ hisses Boss.
‘I’m not so sure,’ retorts Red.

I don’t like the sound of that.

Red grabs the final Poké Ball from his belt. What will it be? Dragonite like I predicted? The Poké Ball hits the floor and explodes; it’s something I’ve seen pictures of but have never seen in real life. It’s one of the only Pokémon that I have never personally commanded. Mewtwo. This is bad.

‘Legendary?’ asks Boss.
‘We’ll see,’ I reply, ‘I’m gonna work with Salamence for now.’

Boss smiles and nods, he thinks I’m going to ask for a Legendary but I won’t.

I start to say something but I’m stunned to silence after I hear Red’s order.

‘Blizzard,’ he says casually.

That’s bad. Salamence has a double vulnerability to Ice, with a special attack the power of Mewtwo’s it didn’t stand a chance. Mewtwo jumps and sends a hurricane of ice across the cave while making an aggressive screech. Due to my failure to give it any orders, Salamence simply takes the attack and, predictably, faints.

‘What do you want next?’ enquires Boss.

He wants me to ask for a Legendary, he thinks if he stops pushing it, I’m bound to.

‘Spiritomb,’ I request.

Boss frowns but doesn’t say anything. Trooper tosses me a Poké Ball and I send out Spiritomb.

Spiritomb has no weaknesses so it doesn’t matter what moves Red’s Mewtwo has. Not only does Spiritomb have no weaknesses but it’s immune to Psychic, which is Mewtwo’s type it’s bound to have at least one Psychic move. Also, it’s Ghost and Dark type, both of which are strong against Mewtwo, if anyone is going to beat Mewtwo, it’s going to be Spiritomb.

‘Sucker Punch,’ I order.

Sucker Punch always moves first, it’s super effective and Mewtwo is weak against Dark typed attacks.

‘Stone Edge,’ commands Red.

Sucker Punch hits and does Mewtwo a surprisingly low amount of damage, it’s defences are just too high. Mewtwo strikes back with Stone Edge and, in spite of not having a type advantage, almost totally knocks out Spiritomb. Red must be almost as good a trainer as Trooper is.

I’m starting to get nervous. What if I lose? I haven’t lost in many, many years. The only person I have ever lost to is my father and even he can’t beat me now, the only reason he is still the Frontier Brain is because he got there first and Scott doesn’t just get rid of people. I think I might lose this battle. I’m too slow to command Spiritomb and seconds later it’s gone.

‘What Pokémon do you want?’ asks Boss.
‘You’ve used six,’ interjects Red, ‘You’ve lost.’

Boss looks contemplative for a moment.

‘There are three of us,’ retorts Boss, gesturing towards me, Trooper and himself, ‘That means we can use eighteen Pokémon!’
‘Fine,’ responds Red, taking Boss’ outrageous cheating on the chin, ‘But the Weavile counts.’

Boss growls. Weavile never battles other Pokémon so that’s just one less that I can use. Still, that’s a total of seventeen, of which I have used six. I have eleven Pokémon to take on Red’s last one, if I can’t do it, I’m a disgrace.

Time flies by and so do Pokémon. It’s barely ten minutes later and Red’s Mewtwo has made ten more Pokémon faint and is once again at maximum HP. It doesn’t take it more than two moves to make a Pokémon faint and usually one of those moves is Recover.

‘This is the last one,’ I whisper to Boss.
‘It’s not,’ he snaps back in a hushed but aggressive tone, ‘We have plenty more.’
‘I’m not a cheat,’ I retort, ‘If he beats one more, I’m not battling anymore.’
‘Fine,’ submits Boss, ‘But use a Legendary.’
‘Alright,’ I finally agree.
‘Darkrai?’ suggests Boss, ‘It’s weak against Darkrai, you know.’
‘I know,’ I answer, annoyed, ‘Of course I know that. I want Giratina.’
‘But Darkrai’s Special Attack is a lot higher,’ insists Boss, ‘You know that, it’ll be able to more damage.’
‘That’s just one thing,’ I explain, ‘Trust me, we want to use Giratina.’

Boss mutters something disparaging under his breath and tosses me Giratina’s Poké Ball from his belt. If he thinks he knows better than me why doesn’t he just do the battles himself? This guy can be a real jerk sometimes. I send out Giratina, who gives off a mighty roar. Red and Mewtwo both look up at it with worried looks on their faces. They should be worried too.

‘Shadow Ball!’ orders Red.

How predictable. Well this is exactly why I ordered Giratina instead of Darkrai.

‘Magic Coat,’ I command.

The move Magic Coat is useless in this situation, I wonder if Red realises what I’m doing. Giratina survives the Shadow Ball attack with a fair amount of health remaining.

‘Aura Sphere!’ shouts Red.

It’d seem strange to a spectator that Red would order Mewtwo to use a move which Giratina is immune to, but I knew he would and that was exactly my intention. Darkrai’s power, Bad Dreams isn’t particularly useful unless I put Mewtwo to sleep, which I don’t intend to do. Giratina’s power, on the other hand, is very useful indeed – Pressure. It’s the same as Mewtwo’s actually; it means that every time your opponent uses a move they lose two PP instead of one, meaning they run out of PP a lot quicker. Mewtwo’s used up almost all of its PP anyway battling and defeating eleven consecutive Pokémon and now it has run out of Shadow Balls. It already used up all of its Blizzards, so now all it has left is Aura Sphere and Recover, neither of which are going to do any damage. Red’s only chance is to get rid of all of Mewtwo’s PP in every move, which is where Giratina’s power is works in Red’s favour.

‘Shadow Claw,’ I order in response.

Giratina flies forward and slashes Mewtwo with a dark force. gives Red the opportunity to have Mewtwo use Recover, now that it isn’t on full health, which is all according to plan.

‘Recover,’ mutters Red.

He knows he has lost, I kind of admire him though, he still won’t submit.

‘Shadow Force,’ I command.

Even though I just won my toughest battle yet, I’m a little ashamed of myself. I resisted some of Boss’ underhand tactics, but I still happily used almost three times as many Pokémon as Red, including a Legendary.

Giratina disappears and Mewtwo focuses, regaining health.

I’m glad we can quit after this.

Giratina reappears and hits Mewtwo with an incredible force, Red’s Pokémon falls to the floor, finally exhausted.

‘Check mate,’ smiles Boss.

Red looks at him in fear, he withdraws Mewtwo to its Poké Ball.

I turn around, I don’t want to see this.

Boss nods to Weavile who begins to approach.

I turn back, I have to see this.

Red is trying to run from Weavile, I’ve seen faster people than him try, it never works. Weavile runs with murder in its eyes – it loves killing people.

Weavile sticks its claws straight through Red and he falls limp to the floor. He couldn’t have been much older than twenty; did we really have to do this?

Pretty soon, Boss is picking the Poké Balls off of the belt attached to Red’s corpse, remarking on how lucky we are to have obtained these, Mewtwo in particular.

Trooper and I are used to it. Pretty soon we return to the sky.

I return to my bedroom once we’re back in the airship and I just sit in there watching the TV set that Boss bought for me. There’s a knock at the door.

‘Come in,’ I shout.

It’s probably Trooper. The door creaks open and I don’t look around, she knows she can take a seat.

‘Brains,’ comes a voice which I instantly recognise as Boss, ‘I have something important to tell you.’

Why is Boss here? He never comes to see me.

‘What?’ I ask.

Maybe he’s going to take me home now, we are done after all.

‘Net is dead,’ informs Boss with a sombre look.

 

[Kimori-Hinoarashi]

Did Boss kill Net?! Great chapter!

 

[AceTrainer14]

Wow! That was really dark, and I totally didn't see it coming! Quite similar to death in one of my upcoming stories. And the battle was very cool as well. I quite liked how Pressure was used to defeat them, and the mentions of the stupidity of a Level 88 Pikachu knowing Quick Attack

Can't wait to see what happens next

(Also, would thuis count as a Dark Fic for the FanFic awards?

 

[Gama]

Wow! That was really dark, and I totally didn't see it coming! Quite similar to death in one of my upcoming stories. And the battle was very cool as well. I quite liked how Pressure was used to defeat them, and the mentions of the stupidity of a Level 88 Pikachu knowing Quick Attack

Can't wait to see what happens next

(Also, would thuis count as a Dark Fic for the FanFic awards?

I update this on Fridays, so you can check out what happens next then =P

Yeah, I'd say that'd be the category it fits best into. Thank you very much for the implication of that question =)

 

[Pseudonym]

Wow. It's like... wow. I really like this six-parter. Specially how Brains is reluctant to follow his boss' orders. Keep it up! I'll keep reading!

 

[Marcat]

This one amazing Fanfic, very mature witha very compelling storyline I can't help but wonder what does the boss want or his motives.
I also love the main character Brains,you give us a honest look in his mind and given him a true personality, I look forward to more.

 

[Sith Droideka]

Great writing! But I suppose the question is if they truly are heroes. Personally, I doubt it. I think that Boss is just trying to destroy threats to his power.

Also, is Net Gold?

 

[Gama]

Great writing! But I suppose the question is if they truly are heroes. Personally, I doubt it. I think that Boss is just trying to destroy threats to his power.

Also, is Net Gold?

I was surprised no one had noticed that. Well done - you win a speech cookie! (It's like a real cookie, but not real, it's just a saying)


Also, Are We Heroes? has been nominated for Best Dark Fic in the Fan Fiction Awards. If this is your favourite Dark Fic on the forum, be sure to show your support and even if it isn't - be sure to make your vote count here!


Part 4

I can’t believe he’s dead. I thought it was a joke but it wasn’t. I can’t believe I outlived Net, I never thought I would, he was so active. He just loved life so much; I can’t believe he’s dead.

Boss told me how it happened. Net had just gotten back from catching the Wooper and Mareep that I’d asked for when it happened. Does that make it my fault?

Anyway, Net rang Boss to let him know he was on his way back and to find out where the airship was. Whenever Net or Trooper get back from catching or training Pokémon, Boss always meets them on the deck of the airship because he’s so eager to see the Pokémon they’ve brought back. So Boss went to the deck to meet Net when he came back and Net gave him the three Poké Balls he had with him, the ones with Kenya, Net’s Fearow as well as the ones with the newly caught Wooper and Mareep. Just then the airship suddenly jolted and Net lost his footing, falling clean off the edge of the airship. Boss panicked and didn’t know what to do, but sent out Kenya to go and get Net very quickly. Kenya started to save Net but then she got spooked by Lugia and Ho-oh and flew back to safety on top of the airship.

I’ve been in my room for hours now, Boss wants me to come out but I won’t, he’s come knocking on the door a few times, but I keep telling him to go away. I’ve just been under the covers, I haven’t been doing anything. There’s a knock at the door. I ignore it, it’s probably just Boss again.

‘Brains?’ comes an inquisitive voice from outside that I recognise as Trooper, ‘I’ll go away if you want me to, but I’d really like to talk to you.’

I suppose I have no reason to be annoyed with Trooper.

‘Come in,’ I call out to her.

The door opens and Trooper comes in and sits down on my bed next to me.

‘Are you alright?’ she asks.

I move a little closer to her.

‘You know Net,’ comforts Trooper, ‘He wouldn’t have wanted anyone to be upset about his death.’
‘I still am though,’ I snap, burying my head in the pillow.
‘I am too,’ replies Trooper calmly with a tint of sadness in her voice, ‘That’s not what I’m trying to say, I’m really sad, you know.’

I take my head out of the pillow and look to her. She has tears in her eyes.

‘I’m sorry,’ I say, ‘I didn’t meant to be rude.’
‘It’s okay,’ Trooper answers, ‘I understand. It’s weird though, don’t you think?’
‘Yeah,’ I respond, ‘He was so full of life. I didn’t think he’d ever die.’
‘Well yeah,’ accepts Trooper, ‘But don’t you also think it’s weird that Kenya was scared of Lugia and Ho-oh? Kenya’s one of the Pokémon that Net’s had for the longest, I can’t imagine her being scared enough of Lugia and Ho-oh to fail to save Net as a result – she loved him.’

Trooper was right.

‘I’m surprised he fell,’ I add, ‘I’ve seen him run around on that deck really precariously and he never comes anywhere near falling.’
‘Boss said the ship jolted though,’ reminds Trooper.
‘I don’t remember it jolting,’ I comment.
‘What are we saying here?’ checks Trooper.
‘That maybe,’ I answer, ‘Maybe, it wasn’t an accident.’
‘Well, be careful,’ warns Trooper, ‘That’s a very serious accusation and we don’t have any real substance to it at the moment. Keep it to yourself for now.’
‘But if it’s true Boss might try to kill us!’ I object, ‘We can’t just sit on it!’
‘Why would Boss want to kill us?’ snaps Trooper, becoming suddenly impatient.
‘Why would he want to kill Net?’ I retort.
‘Exactly!’ announces Trooper throwing her arms up in the air, ‘He has no motive! Even though he had plenty of opportunity and he certainly had the means, he had no motive! You can’t pin a murder on someone without all three, so for now, we have to shut up, alright?’
‘Sorry,’ I mutter, she is right after all.
‘I’m sorry for losing my temper,’ apologises Trooper, regaining her composure, ‘Anyway, I’m supposed to be training the Pokémon Net died bringing back here – I don’t want his death to be in vain.’

I nod and Trooper leaves.

I stay in my room for a little while and then I go into Boss’ office to talk to him.

‘Ah, hello, Brains,’ greets Boss as I enter, ‘It’s good to see you that you’ve decided to talk to me. Please, take a seat.’

I take a seat straight away.

‘Is there anything I can help you with?’ asks Boss.
‘Yes,’ I answer, ‘I want to go home.’
‘What do you mean?’ questions Boss.

I should think it’s obvious really.

‘I want to go back to the Hoenn Battle Frontier and stay with my Dad,’ I clarify, feigning patience, ‘Can you take me there please?’
‘We’d have to wait for Trooper,’ explains Boss.
‘Well, can I go home after Trooper gets back?’ I request.
‘Of course,’ answers Boss, ‘You know you can visit the Battle Frontier as often as you like, particularly now that we’re through with the list.’
‘I didn’t want to visit,’ I clarify, even though I know Boss understood what I was truly trying to say, ‘I wanted to go back to live there.’
‘No,’ snaps Boss, ‘That you can’t do.’
‘Why not?’ I object, ‘You just said yourself that we’re through with the list! We’re finished! We can all go home now!’
‘I’m afraid it’s not that simple, Brains,’ retorts Boss, ‘We’ve taken on the role of world police and now we have a certain responsibility. We can’t retire. We’ve finished the list but we’re not finished with crime. New villains are emerging everyday and if we don’t stop them, who will?’

I don’t care.

‘I want to go home,’ I reiterate.
‘We’ve done so much,’ continues Boss, acting as if he didn’t hear what I said, ‘We’ve taken down Red, Team Galactic, Palmer and the corrupt Frontier Brains of Sinnoh, Lance and Clair, don’t even get me started on all the people from Isshu we’ve take down. We can’t stop now.’
‘We can,’ I insist, ‘We’ve done so much, we don’t need to do anything more. We’ve finally finished the list! After all these years, we’ve finished the list so now we’re done!’

I’m really getting angry now.

‘This isn’t about the list!’ shouts Boss at an incredible volume, springing to his feet, ‘The list was a guideline! It was a focal point! The list isn’t the be all and end all!’

Boss clears his throat and takes a seat.

‘Excuse me,’ he says, more calmly now, ‘Let me tell you a story, Brains. It’s the story of when I first met Net.’
‘Go ahead,’ I say.
‘I lived in Johto, just like Net,’ explains Boss, ‘I grew up in a place called Cianwood City, you’ve never been there. There’s never been any need for us to go there, it’s a virtually crime free city. You grew up in a Battle Frontier, so I’m sure you were used to seeing corruption and bullying from a young age, but I was not. I was a young man by the time I met Net, I already had Weavile then, although he was a Sneasel at the time and I also had a Shuckle. One day though, a boy with long, red hair and piercing eyes barged into my house and demanded to see my Pokémon, I thought nothing of it at the time, in fact, I relished the opportunity to show them off as I knew both of them were quite rare.’

Just like Boss to be vain. I had a feeling he always had been.

‘So I sent out Sneasel and Shuckle,’ continued Boss, ‘And this guy eyed them up, looked them up and down wordlessly and then demanded to be given Sneasel, remarking that it looked like quite the fighter. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Soon enough though, he sent out a bunch of fierce Pokémon and forcibly took Sneasel away from me. I was in shock.’

That sounds horrible. I’ve never had my own Pokémon, but I bet having yours taken away from you is pretty horrible.

‘Later that day, Net came into my house,’ Boss narrated with tears beginning to well up in the corners of his eyes, ‘I was too scared to have Pokémon with me just in case that horrible boy came back, so I gave him my Shuckle to hold on to. He later came back, returned it to me, bid me good day and went on his way. Some time later, Net returned to see how I was doing and I asked if he would help me track down the thief and retrieve my Sneasel and he said that he would. It didn’t take long at all, he used his Fearow, Kenya, to Fly us both to Blackthorn City, took me into the Dragon’s Den and the thief was right there in the cave. The thief said he didn’t want to battle now but Net insisted, saying that he wanted him to return my Sneasel. The two of them battled and Net came out on top, making the thief give me back my Sneasel. Net asked if I was ready to leave but I didn’t say anything, I was just too angry. The rage was boiling up inside me. I was much bigger than the thief, I knew when Pokémon were taken out of the equation I could easily overpower him and that’s exactly what I did – I knocked him to the floor and strangled him to death right there in the Dragon’s Den, then I threw his corpse into the water.’

Strange. Boss doesn’t seem like the type to get his hands dirty.

‘That was the moment I had my dream,’ explains Boss, ‘My dream to rid the world of crime and I asked Net to help me. He took some coaxing, but he eventually agreed. Do you see what I’m trying to say? This guy was just a nobody who thought I could push him around, people like that don’t make it on to lists, but they still need to be taken care of. Finishing the list doesn’t mean we can stop, it means we need a better list.’

I didn’t know what to say to this. Is he trying to say we’re going to do this forever?

‘What happened to your Shuckle?’ I ask, in an attempt to get Boss talking so I can think of some kind of response.
‘I gave it to Net,’ replies Boss nonchalantly, ‘I had to thank him somehow. Well, it was partly a thank you, partly a bribe.’

Typical. I wonder if Net knows that Shuckle was a bribe? I mean ‘knew’ not ‘knows’. It’s sad changing everything to past tense but I suppose I have to now that Net is gone.

‘Net is gone!’ I exclaim without thinking, I then pause and then proceed to attempt to clarify what I was saying, ‘We can’t do it anymore without Net. It’s the four of us, each one of us is important.’

Boss pauses for a moment like he’s thinking about something.

‘That’s not exactly true,’ he finally responds, ‘As tragic as it was, Net’s death was undeniably well timed. You said yourself that the last two Pokémon you’d need were a Quagsire and an Ampharos and he died immediately after delivering them. We can still go on.’

Something suddenly clicks in my head. It’s not quite a motive but it’s certainly something. Maybe Boss wanted to kill Net anyway and the only reason he hadn’t already was because he didn’t need him anymore? I have to tell Trooper this development as soon as possible.

‘You’re right,’ I lie, just so he’ll let me go back to my room, ‘I’m sorry for contradicting you, I’m going to go back to my room now.’
‘I understand,’ replies Boss so compassionately that I almost feel bad.

I return to my room and grab my Poké Gear so I can phone Trooper but my thumb won’t press the button. I trusted Boss, I really did. I didn’t like him, but I never before thought he could be a killer. Maybe I’m not that great at where I place my trust – what if Trooper is in on it too? What if the reason she came to talk to me about Boss and Net was just to check whether I was thinking of doing anything about it and stopping me if I was. Maybe if I tell Trooper she’ll tell Boss and then he’ll do something to keep me quiet, maybe he’ll kill me and find a new battler. I have to keep this to myself. I have to fight them by myself but what can I do? I’m aboard an airship and I don’t have any Pokémon, I can’t run away and get help – even if I got a Pokémon out of the vault, Boss would notice me going on one of the cameras from his office and then I’d have to answer to him. This isn’t going to be easy.

 

[Magmortar123]

This is an awesome fic. The darkest I've ever read. Can't wwait for part 5!

 

[Marcat]

Lovin' the Fic this really keeps me guessing. The Boss is one heck of a villian, can't wait for part 5, I bet Trooper is next on the hit list after training them.

 

[Sith Droideka]

So Net is Gold, and Boss is that man that gives you a Shuckle. Now, I suppose that we need to learn who Brains and Trooper are.

I thought that Brains was Barry, but I guess I'm wrong. And that hit list doesn't include Giovanni, for some reason. How suspicious.

Also, I just realized something. This is what would happen if you turned evil. As in, you in-game. All those Legendaries, capable of beating Red, etc.

Too bad this chapter was posted after nominations finished.