TEEN: Wind and Rain - The Stormy Story of Team Cyclone (Chapter 3 added 6/15)

[SuperTrainStationH]

I've gotten extremely positive and warm responses to my earlier one shots and have been asked to attempt a longer work, so here it is.

This story concerns a unique setting incorporating elements of the Pokémon games, animé, the real world, and my own daydreams.

I'd like to approach this in the manner of an OVA in that the chapters may not come frequently or at predictable intervals, but I do intend for them to be high quality and be posted reasonably often. It may take a while, but it is my intent to tell this story, sooner or later. Chapters may vary in length but will probably never be much shorter than the introductory chapter.

I'll add an index, references, and so on as the need arrives, I expect this single topic starting post should be enough for me to work with.

And of course feedback and constructive criticism is always welcome.

Thank you for checking out my thread, and if you read my story I hope you enjoy it.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Chapter 1 - Chili and Choppers

Chapter 2 - Chase

Chapter 3 - Sliders

 

[SuperTrainStationH]

Re: Wind and Rain - The Stormy Story of Team Cyclone (Chapter 1)

Chapter 1 - Chili and Choppers
________________________________________


The prairie air was charged with the smell of chili cooking down in a big iron pot atop the fire.

Cruise dipped a ladle into the stew, and after supping the cool night air to clear his tongue of the gum he’d just spat out, brought the ladle to his lips, blew away the excess heat, and sampled some.

Still chewing, Cruise pulled a bottle of pepper sauce from his pocket, popped the cork out, and with his Pokémon waiting around the fire, spritzed the seasoning in as he went on stirring.

The middle and most assertive head of his Dodrio crowed impatiently.

The two other heads glared at the middle in stern disapproval, but still they all together stirred as their trainer carefully tested the chili again for need of further seasoning.

“Alright yall, dinnertime!” Cruise announced, rapping the side of the pot with his ladle. “You first Cocoa.”

Cocoa the Typhlosion, who had been standing beside Cruise all along helping maintain the fire, had the bucket from which he was fed his meals ready to be filled.

While Quagsire rushed over to the overturned basket of his trainer’s partly deflated hot air balloon and found his own meal bucket (which he had colored all over with crayons) and carried it over excitedly.

Dodrio’s heads bickered for a moment over which would carry their bucket, and Quagsire jumped them in line.

“Will you bunch just stop arguing! You’ve only got one stomach anyway!” Cruise said, sharking the ladle at the three headed bird Pokémon admonishingly. “Now get in line for your share or they won’t be any left for you to fight over.”

The Dodrio’s heads quickly settled down and with all three beaks clutching the bucket, got in the line of Pokémon that was forming behind Typhlosion.

Typhlosion, Quagsire, and Dodrio took their shares of the meal and took them to the fireside where they waited near the three other Pokémon who hadn’t yet moved from where they were sitting while Cruise was cooking.

A Flygon was laying on her side, watching expectantly as her trainer retrieved the large bucket (a troth really) from which she ate and scooped ladle after ladle of chili in until it was full to the brim.

Curled up in a lavender ball by Flygon was an Espeon, rightly asleep at this late hour and jostled into wakefulness as the smell of the food reached his nose.

Espeon was just coming out of a loud yawn as another Sun Pokémon, a Sunflora, emerged from Espeon’s shadow where she was hiding from the heat of the fire and opened a small parasol to protect herself.

Cruise placed the troth within reach of Flygon so she needn’t move much, and she repositioned herself to eat.

“Here you go old Sophie, and eat your fill. We’ve got a lot of flying to do tomorrow.”

He dipped a final bucket into Flygon’s share, which he set before the Espeon, who was sitting patiently on his haunches.

Sunflora’s little parasol bumped into Cruise’s knee, her yellow sunflower face looking up at her trainer with and odd meek sadness about her.

Cruise studied her for a second, and feeling something unfathomably pleasing in the moment, chuckled softly as he went over to a chest in his balloon’s basket and retrieved a spoon and two bowls, one empty, and the other full to the top with fresh, green soybean pods.

The man knelt down to his Pokémon’s level.

“You didn’t think I forgot you didn’t eat meat now did you, Dewdrop? I kept these in the cooler just for you.” He placed the bowl of soybeans into the Sunflora’s petal-like hands and she skipped off to join the other Pokémon who were waiting for her, after kissing Cruise on the cheek.

Cruise approached the fire, served himself from the nearly empty pot, and sat down on a rock in the midst of the semicircle his Pokémon had made adjacent the fire.

He sat the bowl on his lap. All the Pokémon were watching Cruise, some calmly and some with bated breath, but none of them taking a bite before their trainer. Cruise had never taught him this courtesy, though he was still flattered by it after all these years.

“I don’t know what you all are waiting for. Dig in guys, we’ve gotta eat get to sleep, we’ll be on the move tomorrow.” And as cruise put the first spoonful to his lips, the Pokémon all chowed down after him, the stew warming them from inside as their breath, visible in the evening air curled into the sky and vanished with the smoke of the cooking fire.

A few bites in Cruise paused a moment to watch as his Pokémon ate the food he had provided them with. It was satisfying seeing the all the Pokémon that had accompanied him on this outing eating happily, even if Dodrio’s middle head was trying to gobble up their chili to deny her conjoined sisters a taste.

“Would you like some soybeans Edgar?” The Sunflora asked the Espeon some time into the meal, whose head, like the other Pokémon was buried their food bucket.

“No thank you Dewdrop, tonight you should eat all the food you were given. We’ll both need extra food energy in us tomorrow. It will be cloudy with little sunlight.” Said Edgar.

The other Pokémon shivered at the thought of that excepting Dodrio, who was too busy eating, and Quagsire, who didn’t mind any weather so long as it wasn’t freezing.

“Oh no Edgar! Are you sure about that? But it the sky’s so clear tonight...” The young Sunflora was dismayed.

“Aw what are you worried about Dewdrop?” Cocoa the Typhlosion said after having pulled his chili covered face from his half-eaten bucket. “If it gets nasty out there its me and Ed that’ll be out helping Master fly the balloon, you and Stillwell and Daganya will all probably be in your Pokéballs anyway.”

The Volcano Pokémon said, and went back to eating.

“Great, just what I needed.” Sighed Sophie. Though the largest of the Pokémon present and of healthy appetite, she was the slowest eater and had taken just a few mouthfuls of her generous helping of chili, in which Dewdrop the little Sunflora could have easily taken a bath. “You don’t think it’ll rain tomorrow too, do you Edgar?”

Sophie, being a Flygon of course loved to fly, and she also loved swimming in lakes and soaking in hot springs (which did wonders for her hip), but flying in the rain was something she hated fiercely.

“I don’t know. Let me try and see.” Edgar closed his eyes and tilted his head up to the sky with his ears tilted back to hear the subtle whispers none of the others could hear. His body was still but for his forked tail which swayed slowly, tasting the air around it.

Cruise spoke suddenly.

“Smells like rain all of a sudden. I can smell it even through all the peppers. Might storm tomorrow.” The Trainer was too busy studying the sky to consciously notice his Espeon had been doing the same thing.

“Master’s right.” Said the Espeon. “It will rain tomorrow. Even the blades of grass I’m sitting upon are whispering about it. The plants are thirsty, they need water more than sun right now.”

“Great. Just great!” Roared the Typhlosion, his voice echoing off surrounding boulders. “Now I’ll have to work in the rain tomorrow. I might as well just -”

Stillwell the Quagsire, who was sitting on his empty and overturned bucket, shushed Cocoa loudly.

“Edgar’s still listnin for somethin.”

“What else do you hear Edgar? There won’t be thunder and lighting tomorrow too will there? Thunder and lighting scare me even when I’m in my Pokéball!” Dewdrop hid beneath Edgar as she liked to do when she was afraid and clutched his foreleg. The psychic Pokémon, still deep in concentration, answered.

“It’s not something from tomorrow. It’s something I’m hearing now, in the distance, something unnatural...”

Sophie became alert and craned her neck up, looking in the direction Orville tilted his ears toward.

“I hear it too.” Said the old Flygon with a quiver of worry in her voice. “It’s a…”

“Helicopter!” Said Cruise, as though it were a swear. He leapt to his feet, his empty bowl falling to the ground and shattering on a rock, though he didn’t notice. His Pokémon were all watching the northern sky as the sound of the still unseen helicopter became apparent to all ears present.

Cruise scrambled atop a boulder, the binoculars he kept on a cord around his neck already to his eyes. He adjusted the focusing knob as he scanned the moonlit prairie horizon. “Unknown aircraft incoming! Code yellow team!”

“A helicopter!”, “But who’s in it?”, “Where’s it heading?” The other Pokémon asked the Espeon, forgetting their meal to listen and watch the sky as the sound of the rotors became audible to all present.

“Choppers don’t just come flying through the middle of nowhere, and not that low either.” Cruise said as the helicopter came into view in his binoculars. His heart was racing already, and the Pokémon too.

Dewdrop clutched Edgar’s leg tighter and hid her face in his chest as the Espeon, along with his trainer, inspected the incoming craft from afar.

“They’re searching for us.” Said the Espeon.

“Yeah, no way in heck they’re here by chance. Someone’s looking for us, and no friends of ours fly around in helicopters.”

“Someone in that machine is looking for us, but who?” The Espeon thought out loud to his fellow Pokémon, who waited tensely as he struggled to read the intent of whoever was aboard the helicopter. “In my mind I can almost see…”

But Edgar’s focus was broken by a command from Cruise.

“Let’s go team! Code red! We’re getting out of here!”

And they went into action.

 

[Legacy]

Re: Wind and Rain - The Stormy Story of Team Cyclone (Chapter 1)

Really brilliant beginning to this! I love the detail of your description and the interaction early on between Cruise and his Pokemon. I also like the names you gave them.

Also I like the end of the chapter with the mystery of the chopper. Very good beginning chapter! I'll be following this.

 

[SuperTrainStationH]

Re: Wind and Rain - The Stormy Story of Team Cyclone (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2 - Chase
________________________________________


“Quagsire, put the fire out with Water Gun! Sunflora, Flygon, Dodrio, return!” But Quagsire was already dousing the flames, and he swiftly returned other three into their Pokéballs and secured them to his hip.

Escape options. The balloon was only partially inflated, and even so it couldn’t outrun a helicopter. There were notebooks on board that basket, and computers Cruise hadn’t secured. He couldn’t leave those to be found.

“Typhlosion, set the balloon on fire with Flamethrower!” 

Quagsire had only just put out the cooking fire as Typhlosion made the wicker basket into an inferno. So much for not being seen, but keeping his data out of the wrong hands was more important.

With the aircraft soundly on fire, Cruise returned both Typhlosion and Quagsire, leaving just him and his Espeon standing in the wobbling, waving light of the burning balloon. The helicopter was coming closer still, Cruise and Edgar must have been plainly visible and they both were well aware of this.

Cruise knelt down and held the Espeon tight.

“Teleport us away from the firelight!”

And before Cruise’s lips had stopped moving he was a good sixty feet away. It was a very short distance to teleport, but it was good enough.

They were no longer in the light of the fire, and he had at least a few moments more to consider his next move.

He watched the helicopter. It was approaching toward the site of the burning balloon.

“Failed to predict were we’d teleport to huh? At least we know its not her.” Cruise said, more than himself than to the Espeon. “But if it’s not her, then who could it be?”

Edgar already cleared his mind and attempted to identify the people aboard the machine.

“No time Edgar, we need to scram! Return!” Cruise held the Pokéball point blank to the Espeon as he called him back, so the beam would have less space to travel and thus make less of a flash to give away his location to the enemy.

For the moment Cruise was alone and in the dark, though near enough to be buffeted by wind kicked up by the helicopter. He ran from the camp site, which the chopper was now scanning with searchlights. The searchlights made him think of his Amphoros who knew Flash. If only Amphoros was with him he could affect a direct attack against the helicopter with favorable odds, if only…

Cruise kept running, his hand at his belt and his fingers resting on two adjacent Balls as he rapidly made a decision on which Pokémon to choose.

Of course Cruise would want to escape by air. If he could get airborne on Flygon he could easily either escape or open fire on the chopper, but the land was too flat, so flying on Sophie’s back wasn’t an option.

“Go Dodrio!” He shouted as still running, threw the Ball and winced almost painfully as the red flash of energy erupted from the capsule and solidified into his Dodrio, Daganya, running along side him already as he caught the Ball and returned it to his hip.

Cruise so deeply hated the light Pokéballs emitted as they released or returned the Pokémon, and that obnoxious noise they made. So inconvenient for times like these when stealth was a matter of life and death.

Dodrio’s right head craned down and helped hoist Cruise securely on back and picked up speed.

The helicopter was trailing them. Cruise’s eyes, accustomed to campfire light were blinded as the searchlight fell on him. He commanded Dodrio to duck and dodge in any way that would help, but the searchlight was locked on him, and already Dodrio was slowing down.

Dodrio of course could run at speed for miles, but a full on sprint such as this was taxing and couldn’t be maintained for long.

“I should have been paying attention.” Cruise cursed himself. He should have better rationed Dodrio’s running ability to conceal himself rather than trying to evade with sheer speed.

“I should have raised a Rapidash for this.” He thought as Dodrio, panting with all three heads, began to slow down significantly. Cruise had specifically considered Rapidash as a useful Pokémon for times such as this. Zebstrika would have been ideal as well in this moment for both speed and offensive capabilities against flying machines.

Cruise hopped from Dodrio’s back in the midst of some tall grass which concealed him somewhat and returned the wingless bird Pokémon to its ball at once. While riding he had felt Dodrio’s heart with toil too fiercely for comfort, and he knew there was no chance of that Pokémon battling safely in that state.

The spotlight was still on him, the helicopter loomed nearly directly above, blowing the grass flat. Cruise ran back, just enough to establish a suitable battling distance from the chopper should they send out Pokémon against him.

There was no chance of avoiding this battle now, if he and his Pokémon were to leave with their lives or freedom it meant facing an unknown opponent, but he was ready.

The chopper touched down on the prairie soil, its rotors were still spinning fit to lift off any second.

Cruise threw two Pokéballs.

“Espeon, go! Learn everything you can of the enemy with Foresight! Typhlosion, protect Edgar while he concentrates!”

Foresight was useful for reading the intent of a Pokémon or in some cases a Trainer, but to use it in this way, almost to spy on a completely unidentified enemy which ment them serious harm, required so much focus and time from the user that its use in a case like this was daring indeed.

Sending out Cocoa the Typhlosion to protect the Espeon and allow him to concentrate was only a partial solution, and it invited whoever was in the helicopter, should they attack with Pokémon, to a double battle, which for Cruise, in his position of weakness, put him at great disadvantage.

Someone leapt from the helicopter, and though still a silhouette shadow Cruise, heart slamming against his ribs with each beat, his guts churning with adrenaline, held fast and waited. Cruise wanted to have Typhlosion attack the helicopter with Eruption, though if they were sophisticated the chopper would surely be equipped with a force field.

Edgar’s Future Sight was the ideal way to bypass force fields and destroy aircraft such as the chopper, but now he was still using Foresight, by which Cruise hoped to learn if the chopper had a force field to begin with.

Cruise could feel both of his Pokémon’s hearts beating. He could feel the rush of mental energy in Edgar’s head as the Espeon attempted to read the stranger’s thoughts. He could feel the fire caged inside Cocoa’s body as the Typhlosion waited tensely for a command from his Trainer and tracked the unknown figure with a predatory glare.

The figure stepped out of the shadow of the helicopter. There was no uniform from any organization as Cruise might have expected. He was a man in a short-sleeved silk shirt.

He put his hands up as he approached the Cruise and his Pokémon.

“I come in peace you paranoid nut job. Who the heck you think’s gonna come all the way out here just to mess with you, huh Cruise? Gee freaking wiz.”

Cruise and both his Pokémon collapsed with relief like balloons at one moment filled near to bursting and the next deflated completely.

“Chase? Are you out of your mind? I nearly incinerated you and blew that helicopter to bits, I almost killed you! What are you doing out here? And since when did you own a helicopter?”

“I just donated ten grand to Rockmarsh City University Hospital for the tax writeoff and it turns out I get a free helicopter ride as a gift. I knew you’d be in the area so I just thought I’d come over and surprise you. I didn’t think you’d wig out and set fire to your balloon and stuff.”

Explained Chase.

“Why didn’t you call me first?” Asked cruise with a shout.

“It was a surprise! You weren’t supposed to panic like that. God, who the heck did you think would attack you out in the middle of nowhere in a helicopter?”

“I don’t know. Maybe Team Rocket for starters, I can think of a few actually...” Cruise paused to catch his breath, and his Espeon curled up beside him and placed his head beneath his hand. He felt calmer already, and noticed Typhlosion, calmer but still alert by his side as well.

“Oh come on Cruise, Team Rocket’s Kanto based, I’d think we’re safe from them here in the Munia region -”

“-which is right next door to Unova mind you. Don’t make me give you a history lesson.”

“I know, I know, but still, Team Rocket’s not gonna come all the way out here just to spite you.”

“Perhaps not Team Rocket, but what about her?” Cruise asked, fondling the gem on his Espeon’s forehead.

“Who?”

“You know who.”

Chase paused as he considered.

“Hunter J?” He tried.

The Espeon’s tail twitched tellingly, and Typhlosion grunted indignantly, snorting flame through his nostrils. Cruise himself did nor said nothing.

“You’re paranoid. J was last sighted the Sinnoh region. Besides, she doesn’t care about you.” Chase said.

Cruise looked to the stars.

“J doesn’t care about anyone.” He said, with a hand upon each of his present Pokémon.

There was a long wait.

“Come on Cruise. I’m sorry about all this. Let’s go get some sliders or something. I’m hungry.” Chase offered, and motioned Cruise over to the waiting helicopter.

“Alright but you’re paying. And you’re buying me a new balloon too.”

“Whatever, just hop in.”

Cruise returned Edgar and Cocoa to their Pokéballs and followed Chase to the chopper.

“You freaking nut, you almost freaking killed me.” Chase said, through a laugh this time, and shoved Cruise playfully.

“Well heck, you fly in unannounced like a darn Pokémon hunter, what do you expect me to do? Invite ya for tea?” Said Cruise, with some levity in his voice again, and shoved Chase back as they both boarded, and the pilot ferried them out of the prairie to civilization.

 

[SuperTrainStationH]

Re: Wind and Rain - The Stormy Story of Team Cyclone (Chapter 3 added, 6/15)

Chapter 3 - Sliders
________________________________________

It was just past midnight when the helicopter touched down at the hospital landing pad, and minutes later Cruise was in the passenger seat of Chase’s convertible roaming the nearby towns for a White Castle, which they did eventually find, and had the place to themselves save for the skeleton crew manning the kitchen.

“You sure you only want four of these man? These are really tiny and I got more than I can eat.” Chase asked across the table. He had eight miniature cheeseburgers on a tray before him and several empty cartons to the side. An open paper sack releasing steam like a Torkoal’s back evidenced many more hot sandwiches within.

“I just ate remember? You interrupted our family dinner, I was about to make popcorn for all of us on the campfire.” Cruise said through a slider stuffed mouth, and then swallowed the last of his share.

“Besides, even one of these is bad enough.”

“What about your Pokémon then? Wouldn’t they want some? I’d hate for this food to go to waste.”

“I’d never feed my Pokémon this junk. I respect them too much. They’d get fat. Sophie’d never fly again.” Cruise took a sip of lemonade and then chuckled softly.

“Yeah, how is Sophie by the way? Her hip I mean.”

Cruise’s smile vanished.

“Well, Sophie’s doing as well as she ever will. She’s tough you know, or she never would have made it in the first place.”

“Yeah I know. Sorry to bring it up. Just thought I should ask.”

“Don’t apologize. I appreciate it. She’d be dead if it weren’t for you anyway. And she’s doing well overall for a Flygon her age, aside from the whole leg thing. Her leg’ll never be the same of course, but the herbs are helping a lot.” Cruise checked his watch. “I should have given them to her hours ago really, right when I started cooking.”

“Can you give them to her now?”

“Nah, its too late now, one missed dose won’t hurt her. Besides, she’s probably resting good in her ball now, and if I stepped out to give them to her she’d see where we’re at and probably want some sliders, and like I said, I’m not feeding my Pokémon this junk.”

A moment passed.

"Besides, I just fed them all chili. Cocoa with a stomach full of my chili and White Castle burgers would give him more gas than a Wheezing.”

“Yeah, you’re right dude. That would reek.” Chase had been staring at a video screen mounted in the corner of the dining area the last several seconds which Cruise’s back was to. “People’d be running for gas masks all the way over in Unova come tomorrow.”

The TV went on, its chatter and the reflection of the flickering screen in the windows giving a weirdly comfortable ambiance to the white, halogen lit interior, an island of light and activity amongst the still, dark streets of the neighborhood beyond.

Cruise now realized he was sleepy, but the heightened awareness that haunts a man so soon after thinking his life was in danger kept him alert.

Despite having spent the day anticipating a night’s rest beneath the stars with his Pokémon both large and small, the thought of crashing in his apartment with just one of his smaller Pokémon with him on the bed sparked some longing in him that he clung to in his drowsiness.

In the glass the ghostly image of an employee with a mop and bucket washing the floor with the help of his Simipour shuffled past. The reflection gave the illusion that he was mopping the parking lot asphalt.

It felt like minutes had passed, but Chase had barely missed a beat before continuing, “Speaking of Unova, check it out!” and pointed pointed to the TV. “It’s a recap of today’s game at Nimbasa Square Garden.”

Besides being worn and sleepy, the vestiges of adrenaline in his system made Cruise’s neck ache, so it was with delay that cruise twisted in his seat to see the screen.

A cable sports channel was replaying highlights of a Pokémon Baccer match that had taken place earlier that afternoon.

“Pokémon Baccer? Gimmie a break. Who watches that crap?” Cruise said with a hefty grunt as he turned his back to the screen again and slouched comfortably in his curved booth bench.

“I know.” Said Chase. “Its just the fact that it’s on at all. I never even heard of this sport a year ago and now there having a World Cup match for it in Sinnoh tomorrow.” At once he started on his seventh slider.

Cruise sucked a bristle from between his teeth while Chase ate, and then decided to respond.

“Baccer is hardly what I’d call a sport. If idly standing by while your Pokémon fumble around with a giant top is a sport then I’m the queen of the Albia region. It’s not a real sport unless you can get jacked up playing it.”

Chase jumped up as much as the cramped booth allowed and shouted, “Hell yeah! Right about that!” through a full mouth, spraying slightly. Both Cruise, and the employee mopping the floor gave him a harsh, disapproving glare, and he settled down quickly.

“You’re right though.” Cruise quietly agreed. “No trophy’s better than a good scar.” He pulled back the left sleeve of wind breaker to proudly display the remnants of some ancient injury, today barely visible but evidently quite a wound the day it was sustained.

“Yeah, whatever. My scar’s better than that old thing, but you know I can’t show it here without getting the cops called on me again,” Chase was fit to say more, but a belch derailed his train of thought.

Cruise pulled down his sleeve and sighed.

“That’s what happens when you have too much darn money. You get bored and make up your own sport and build your own stadiums and league for it and put real athletes like us out of business.”

“You mean Kodai right?”

“Who else? It’s like owning the stadiums and all the news stations that cover them aren’t enough, he needed his own trademarked, manufactured sport too, a hands-off sport he can “participate” in himself and be a wannabe sports star without the effort and risk of physical involvement.”

Chase pointed to the TV again.

“Look at him. He’s on screen now plugging the World Cup.”

“I see the screen in the refection.” Said Cruise as he gazed out the window and yawned. “Who cares about Kodai anyway? I just want to go to bed.”

“Yeah, let’s get moving before I need to find a toilet.”

And leaving the televised Kodai to yap away at the people and Pokémon working the White Castle, the late night diners returned to the convertible and set off for the Munia Expressway.