Stalungrad
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POKÉMON: UNSHIELDED
A retelling of Pokémon Shield with original characters.
CHAPTER ONE: I Didn't Choose This
In the boring town of Postwick there lived a girl named Yasmin. Tall and slightly awkward, with hair to her shoulder (a compromise; Yasmin wanted it super short, her mother wanted it hideously long). And since her family were Indian, she stood out more than she’d like in this dull, tiny town.
Yasmin’s mother insisted that Postwick was a lovely place to live, but Yasmin strongly disagreed. It had no proper shops. Nowhere to really hang out with friends. Come to think of it, it had hardly any friends – most of Yasmin’s friends lived in nearby Wedgehurst.
Frankly, there were more wooloo than people in Postwick.
There was only one interesting thing about the place. Leon lived here – the undefeated Champion of the Pokémon League.
Not that Yasmin was particularly interested in that either. She wasn’t really into sports.
One morning, there was a knock on Yasmin’s door. She had a sneaky look out of her bedroom window – and saw that it was Greta at the door.
Yasmin found Greta very tiring. Petite, blonde Greta was very enthusiastic, always in a hurry. Yasmin preferred to take things slowly, and with very little passion. Today, Greta was dressed casually, faded jeans and a baggy T-shirt – but still managed to look annoyingly presentable.
Yasmin headed downstairs to answer the door, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“Yasmin!” shouted Greta annoyingly. “You’ve got to come – I’ve found something amazing.”
Greta grabbed Yasmin’s hand and started running out of the house, yanking Yasmin after her.
Yasmin was irritated and alarmed! She wasn’t even wearing any shoes. What if there were wooloo droppings on the ground? There were often wooloo droppings on the ground in Postwick.
Greta kept running, and Yasmin continued to be pulled along for the ride.
After a few minutes, Greta arrived at a field surrounded by a low stone wall. As a result, Yasmin also arrived at the same field – more reluctantly, and feeling much more tired.
Three large cages were lined up against the wall. Inside each cage was a small creature.
“Look!” said Greta. “They’re pokémon!”
“I can’t believe you dragged me out here to show me some random pokémon,” said Yasmin. But she peered into the cages anyway.
Inside the first cage was a little green chimp. It was cheerfully tapping the metal cage with a stick, and making quiet little noises that almost sounded like singing.
The middle cage contained a little white rabbit with red ears. It was stretching its little legs methodically, one at a time.
The final cage contained a little blue blob. Yasmin couldn’t quite tell what it was, as it had rolled up into a ball, and was sleeping towards the back of the cage.
“Aren’t they cute?” asked Greta. “I’ve never seen any of them in person before. That one’s a grookey,” she added, pointing to the little green chimp.
“The rabbit’s a scorbunny,” said Yasmin. “My cousin had one.”
“Do you know what the blue thing is?” asked Greta.
“No idea,” said Yasmin. “I can’t really see what it is.”
Greta peered into the final cage.
“Come on,” she said. “Wake up!” She poked a finger between the bars, trying to reach the creature inside.
“What are you doing?” asked Yasmin. “You have no idea if that thing’s dangerous.”
“They’re starter pokémon,” said Greta. “They’re ideal for new trainers. They wouldn’t give dangerous pokémon to new trainers.”
Yasmin was dubious. She’d been taught from an early age that pokémon could be dangerous – especially if you didn’t have pokémon of your own. Yasmin wasn’t even allowed to visit her friends in Wedgehurst without taking Presto – the family’s pet purrloin – for protection.
Greta was opening the cage, and Ya-
Wait, what?!
“Greta, NO!”
The cage door now open, Greta reached towards the sleeping blue blob inside, and –
“SOB!” the creature squeaked. In the blink of an eye, it was now awake, alert, and standing at the back of the cage. It eyed Greta’s hand suspiciously.
And suddenly, it STRUCK Greta’s hand –
And shot out of the cage at speed.
“No!” cried Greta, running after it.
And time ... slowed ... down.
Because Yasmin could think incredibly quickly. It was as though the entire world stopped while she formed her thought. Greta seemed almost completely still – like a freeze frame – even though she was preparing to run.
Almost lazily, Yasmin rapidly noted the situation.
That creature can run FAST. Even if it can’t keep it up for long, there’s no way we can keep up with it.
Greta’s going to chase it.
I’m not wearing any shoes.
The creature’s heading past the leppa orchard.
My mother doesn’t know I left the house with Greta.
I have no plans today.
Easy enough to note these details – but what did all this mean? There was bound to be an important detail here somewhere. Time to form a plan.
Can’t catch up to the pokémon. No point trying. Go home – get shoes.
But how will I find it later? Clues. Past the leppa orchard ...
Past the leppa orchard!
Of course. There was nothing past the orchard except large fields – some empty, most containing gently grazing wooloo. The creature was far more likely to keep running until it reached ...
The Slumbering Weald.
Yasmin thought all of this in a split second.
And so, as Greta instincitvely chased after the creature, Yasmin turned and marched quickly back home.
*
At the house, Yasmin got changed – she threw on a pair of jogging bottoms, a loose T-shirt and hiking boots. She grabbed her blood red rucksack, and threw in sun cream and a light coat – just in case. She quickly filled a flask with water, and she was nearly ready to go.
Just one more thing.
“Presto!”
The purrloin was pretending to sleep on the living room sofa. Yasmin wasn’t fooled.
“Come on. We’ve got to go.”
Presto grumpily stretched her paws, taking as long as possible to stand up.
“Presto! It’s important.”
“Prrr.”
Presto hopped onto the floor, and followed Yasmin as she left the house for the second time that day.
*
Yasmin ran through the woods, Presto at her side.
She knew she wasn’t allowed in the woods by herself. But – she wasn’t by herself, right? She had Presto with her.
Okay, she knew her mother would never accept that excuse. But the plan was to rescue the escaped pokémon before anyone realised Yasmin wasn’t around.
Despite her speed, she was still careful to stick to the path. The last thing Yasmin wanted was to disturb some wild pokémon. Presto would be able to defend her, but time was of the essence.
Yasmin could really do with a flying pokémon – something that could look down, find the monster, lead the way. Or maybe a tracker dog. Instead –
“Loin.”
“Yes, I know you’re tired. But to be honest, you can use the exercise.”
“LOIN!”
“Shut up.”
Where was Greta? Yasmin hoped she hadn’t been stupid enough to come into the Slumbering Weald without a pokémon.
Wait.
Noises.
Squeaking. And rustling.
Okay, no time for finesse. Yasmin took a shortcut through the dense trees.
And was CHARGED by a wild rookidee.
“No time for you,” said Yasmin, ducking out of the way.
She kept running. The rookidee must have turned around – Yasmin could hear it flapping its wings, chasing her.
“Keep running, Presto,” said Yasmin. “But be ready to fight.”
The squeaking’s louder.
Oh. That’s a lot of different squeaking.
Up ahead, she could see a clearing – and a huge mass of grey fur.
Yasmin picked up the pace –
But as she got near, she slowed to a halt.
A few metres ahead, she could see a scurry of skwovets surrounding ... something blue.
Time for a rescue mission.
“Presto – I need you to ...”
“DEE!”
Yasmin was hit in the back of the head by a furious rookidee.
“Presto! Use your sand attack.”
Presto scooped some soil with her paw, and hurled it into the rookidee’s eyes.
“KEE!”
“Okay, that buys us time,” said Yasmin. “But those skwovets are the priority. Use your fake out attack.”
“Prroin?”
“Any of them!”
Presto jumped into the scurry. Half the skwovets immediately fled – but two remained.
Presto landed right in front of one of the remaining skwovets, and CLAP! She brought her front paws together hard, and the skwovet flinched.
“Behind you! Scratch!” called Yasmin.
Presto started to run – but too late. The second skwovet tackled Presto the ground. She turned, and scratched the enemy – and was tackled by the first.
“Use your growl – you can OW!”
The rookidee pecked at Yasmin’s head, and the pain was intense. It’s easy to take rookidees for granted – there are far bigger birds in the world, after all. But even a rookidee can be dangerous when angered, and this one was furious.
Yasmin flung out her arm, striking the rookidee, getting it out of her eyes. And time ... slowed ... down.
Presto’s growling. It’ll weaken the skwovets.
But it’s two against one.
The rookidee’s impaired by the sand attack.
But it won’t be enough.
I need Presto to defend me.
But she can’t escape the skwovets.
There’s water in my bag.
If I can fight off the rookidee long enough, I can get the water.
And then give it to Presto.
And keep her fighting fit long enough to –
Take out two skwovets and a rookidee? All at once? Really?
The other skwovets are gone. Will they stay gone?
Nobody else around.
Just me.
Presto.
The wild pokémon.
And the old lady.
The old ...
“Brave,” said the old woman. So very old. “Foolish.”
FLASH.
What was that?
Yasmin closed her eyes. Something just happened. What was it? She couldn’t remember.
And suddenly –
The rookidee was knocked from the sky –
Hitting the ground.
Yasmin saw the blue blob bounce from the fallen bird –
To the pair of skwovets.
It struck one of the pair – the one causing Presto the most hassle.
Allowing Presto to scratch the second one, knocking it out.
Yasmin stared, breathing heavily.
“Sobble!” squaked the blue blob.
Yasmin removed her rucksack, and retrieved the bottle of water inside. She sat on the grassy verge of the clearing. Presto dashed towards her, as did the blue blob – which she could now see was some kind of lizard.
“What a morning,” said Yasmin, as the pokémon took it in turns to drink from the bottle.
*
As she left the woods, Yasmin was greeted by Greta.
“Yasmin! I couldn’t find you! I was so worried.”
Greta wasn’t alone – her older sister Elmas was with her. Elmas shared Greta’s blonde hair, but otherwise you’d never know they were related. Elmas always dressed like she had a job interview – these neat trouser suits, her nails painted to perfection, makeup that was just a couple of notches below “too much”.
“She told me everything,” said Elmas. “I really don’t know what to do.”
“Please don’t tell my mother,” said Yasmin.
“It wasn’t her fault,” said Greta.
“I know!” said Elmas. “It wasn’t her fault at all.” She turned to Yasmin. “But you really shouldn’t have gone into the woods.”
“I found the pokémon,” said Yasmin.
“You ... did?” Elmas sounded very surprised.
Yasmin opened her rucksack, showing the creature inside. The three of them crowded around, admiring the animal.
“It’s a sobble,” said Elmas. “And bad news – her owner noticed she was missing. He’s arranged a search party.”
Yasmin groaned. “I really hoped I’d be able to get her back into her cage before anyone found out.”
“There’s worse news,” said Elmas.
Yasmin looked at her nervously.
“Those pokémon. They belonged to Leon.”
A retelling of Pokémon Shield with original characters.
CHAPTER ONE: I Didn't Choose This
In the boring town of Postwick there lived a girl named Yasmin. Tall and slightly awkward, with hair to her shoulder (a compromise; Yasmin wanted it super short, her mother wanted it hideously long). And since her family were Indian, she stood out more than she’d like in this dull, tiny town.
Yasmin’s mother insisted that Postwick was a lovely place to live, but Yasmin strongly disagreed. It had no proper shops. Nowhere to really hang out with friends. Come to think of it, it had hardly any friends – most of Yasmin’s friends lived in nearby Wedgehurst.
Frankly, there were more wooloo than people in Postwick.
There was only one interesting thing about the place. Leon lived here – the undefeated Champion of the Pokémon League.
Not that Yasmin was particularly interested in that either. She wasn’t really into sports.
One morning, there was a knock on Yasmin’s door. She had a sneaky look out of her bedroom window – and saw that it was Greta at the door.
Yasmin found Greta very tiring. Petite, blonde Greta was very enthusiastic, always in a hurry. Yasmin preferred to take things slowly, and with very little passion. Today, Greta was dressed casually, faded jeans and a baggy T-shirt – but still managed to look annoyingly presentable.
Yasmin headed downstairs to answer the door, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“Yasmin!” shouted Greta annoyingly. “You’ve got to come – I’ve found something amazing.”
Greta grabbed Yasmin’s hand and started running out of the house, yanking Yasmin after her.
Yasmin was irritated and alarmed! She wasn’t even wearing any shoes. What if there were wooloo droppings on the ground? There were often wooloo droppings on the ground in Postwick.
Greta kept running, and Yasmin continued to be pulled along for the ride.
After a few minutes, Greta arrived at a field surrounded by a low stone wall. As a result, Yasmin also arrived at the same field – more reluctantly, and feeling much more tired.
Three large cages were lined up against the wall. Inside each cage was a small creature.
“Look!” said Greta. “They’re pokémon!”
“I can’t believe you dragged me out here to show me some random pokémon,” said Yasmin. But she peered into the cages anyway.
Inside the first cage was a little green chimp. It was cheerfully tapping the metal cage with a stick, and making quiet little noises that almost sounded like singing.
The middle cage contained a little white rabbit with red ears. It was stretching its little legs methodically, one at a time.
The final cage contained a little blue blob. Yasmin couldn’t quite tell what it was, as it had rolled up into a ball, and was sleeping towards the back of the cage.
“Aren’t they cute?” asked Greta. “I’ve never seen any of them in person before. That one’s a grookey,” she added, pointing to the little green chimp.
“The rabbit’s a scorbunny,” said Yasmin. “My cousin had one.”
“Do you know what the blue thing is?” asked Greta.
“No idea,” said Yasmin. “I can’t really see what it is.”
Greta peered into the final cage.
“Come on,” she said. “Wake up!” She poked a finger between the bars, trying to reach the creature inside.
“What are you doing?” asked Yasmin. “You have no idea if that thing’s dangerous.”
“They’re starter pokémon,” said Greta. “They’re ideal for new trainers. They wouldn’t give dangerous pokémon to new trainers.”
Yasmin was dubious. She’d been taught from an early age that pokémon could be dangerous – especially if you didn’t have pokémon of your own. Yasmin wasn’t even allowed to visit her friends in Wedgehurst without taking Presto – the family’s pet purrloin – for protection.
Greta was opening the cage, and Ya-
Wait, what?!
“Greta, NO!”
The cage door now open, Greta reached towards the sleeping blue blob inside, and –
“SOB!” the creature squeaked. In the blink of an eye, it was now awake, alert, and standing at the back of the cage. It eyed Greta’s hand suspiciously.
And suddenly, it STRUCK Greta’s hand –
And shot out of the cage at speed.
“No!” cried Greta, running after it.
And time ... slowed ... down.
Because Yasmin could think incredibly quickly. It was as though the entire world stopped while she formed her thought. Greta seemed almost completely still – like a freeze frame – even though she was preparing to run.
Almost lazily, Yasmin rapidly noted the situation.
That creature can run FAST. Even if it can’t keep it up for long, there’s no way we can keep up with it.
Greta’s going to chase it.
I’m not wearing any shoes.
The creature’s heading past the leppa orchard.
My mother doesn’t know I left the house with Greta.
I have no plans today.
Easy enough to note these details – but what did all this mean? There was bound to be an important detail here somewhere. Time to form a plan.
Can’t catch up to the pokémon. No point trying. Go home – get shoes.
But how will I find it later? Clues. Past the leppa orchard ...
Past the leppa orchard!
Of course. There was nothing past the orchard except large fields – some empty, most containing gently grazing wooloo. The creature was far more likely to keep running until it reached ...
The Slumbering Weald.
Yasmin thought all of this in a split second.
And so, as Greta instincitvely chased after the creature, Yasmin turned and marched quickly back home.
*
At the house, Yasmin got changed – she threw on a pair of jogging bottoms, a loose T-shirt and hiking boots. She grabbed her blood red rucksack, and threw in sun cream and a light coat – just in case. She quickly filled a flask with water, and she was nearly ready to go.
Just one more thing.
“Presto!”
The purrloin was pretending to sleep on the living room sofa. Yasmin wasn’t fooled.
“Come on. We’ve got to go.”
Presto grumpily stretched her paws, taking as long as possible to stand up.
“Presto! It’s important.”
“Prrr.”
Presto hopped onto the floor, and followed Yasmin as she left the house for the second time that day.
*
Yasmin ran through the woods, Presto at her side.
She knew she wasn’t allowed in the woods by herself. But – she wasn’t by herself, right? She had Presto with her.
Okay, she knew her mother would never accept that excuse. But the plan was to rescue the escaped pokémon before anyone realised Yasmin wasn’t around.
Despite her speed, she was still careful to stick to the path. The last thing Yasmin wanted was to disturb some wild pokémon. Presto would be able to defend her, but time was of the essence.
Yasmin could really do with a flying pokémon – something that could look down, find the monster, lead the way. Or maybe a tracker dog. Instead –
“Loin.”
“Yes, I know you’re tired. But to be honest, you can use the exercise.”
“LOIN!”
“Shut up.”
Where was Greta? Yasmin hoped she hadn’t been stupid enough to come into the Slumbering Weald without a pokémon.
Wait.
Noises.
Squeaking. And rustling.
Okay, no time for finesse. Yasmin took a shortcut through the dense trees.
And was CHARGED by a wild rookidee.
“No time for you,” said Yasmin, ducking out of the way.
She kept running. The rookidee must have turned around – Yasmin could hear it flapping its wings, chasing her.
“Keep running, Presto,” said Yasmin. “But be ready to fight.”
The squeaking’s louder.
Oh. That’s a lot of different squeaking.
Up ahead, she could see a clearing – and a huge mass of grey fur.
Yasmin picked up the pace –
But as she got near, she slowed to a halt.
A few metres ahead, she could see a scurry of skwovets surrounding ... something blue.
Time for a rescue mission.
“Presto – I need you to ...”
“DEE!”
Yasmin was hit in the back of the head by a furious rookidee.
“Presto! Use your sand attack.”
Presto scooped some soil with her paw, and hurled it into the rookidee’s eyes.
“KEE!”
“Okay, that buys us time,” said Yasmin. “But those skwovets are the priority. Use your fake out attack.”
“Prroin?”
“Any of them!”
Presto jumped into the scurry. Half the skwovets immediately fled – but two remained.
Presto landed right in front of one of the remaining skwovets, and CLAP! She brought her front paws together hard, and the skwovet flinched.
“Behind you! Scratch!” called Yasmin.
Presto started to run – but too late. The second skwovet tackled Presto the ground. She turned, and scratched the enemy – and was tackled by the first.
“Use your growl – you can OW!”
The rookidee pecked at Yasmin’s head, and the pain was intense. It’s easy to take rookidees for granted – there are far bigger birds in the world, after all. But even a rookidee can be dangerous when angered, and this one was furious.
Yasmin flung out her arm, striking the rookidee, getting it out of her eyes. And time ... slowed ... down.
Presto’s growling. It’ll weaken the skwovets.
But it’s two against one.
The rookidee’s impaired by the sand attack.
But it won’t be enough.
I need Presto to defend me.
But she can’t escape the skwovets.
There’s water in my bag.
If I can fight off the rookidee long enough, I can get the water.
And then give it to Presto.
And keep her fighting fit long enough to –
Take out two skwovets and a rookidee? All at once? Really?
The other skwovets are gone. Will they stay gone?
Nobody else around.
Just me.
Presto.
The wild pokémon.
And the old lady.
The old ...
“Brave,” said the old woman. So very old. “Foolish.”
FLASH.
What was that?
Yasmin closed her eyes. Something just happened. What was it? She couldn’t remember.
And suddenly –
The rookidee was knocked from the sky –
Hitting the ground.
Yasmin saw the blue blob bounce from the fallen bird –
To the pair of skwovets.
It struck one of the pair – the one causing Presto the most hassle.
Allowing Presto to scratch the second one, knocking it out.
Yasmin stared, breathing heavily.
“Sobble!” squaked the blue blob.
Yasmin removed her rucksack, and retrieved the bottle of water inside. She sat on the grassy verge of the clearing. Presto dashed towards her, as did the blue blob – which she could now see was some kind of lizard.
“What a morning,” said Yasmin, as the pokémon took it in turns to drink from the bottle.
*
As she left the woods, Yasmin was greeted by Greta.
“Yasmin! I couldn’t find you! I was so worried.”
Greta wasn’t alone – her older sister Elmas was with her. Elmas shared Greta’s blonde hair, but otherwise you’d never know they were related. Elmas always dressed like she had a job interview – these neat trouser suits, her nails painted to perfection, makeup that was just a couple of notches below “too much”.
“She told me everything,” said Elmas. “I really don’t know what to do.”
“Please don’t tell my mother,” said Yasmin.
“It wasn’t her fault,” said Greta.
“I know!” said Elmas. “It wasn’t her fault at all.” She turned to Yasmin. “But you really shouldn’t have gone into the woods.”
“I found the pokémon,” said Yasmin.
“You ... did?” Elmas sounded very surprised.
Yasmin opened her rucksack, showing the creature inside. The three of them crowded around, admiring the animal.
“It’s a sobble,” said Elmas. “And bad news – her owner noticed she was missing. He’s arranged a search party.”
Yasmin groaned. “I really hoped I’d be able to get her back into her cage before anyone found out.”
“There’s worse news,” said Elmas.
Yasmin looked at her nervously.
“Those pokémon. They belonged to Leon.”
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