Chapter 6: V1 C5 – The Reporter

Immediately after leaving Professor Elm’s lab, Joe rushed to New Bark’s port to the south, only to be met with disappointment rather than a ferry. A digital board that usually displayed arrival and dispatch times for the ferry instead had a note on it. Due to a certain troublesome event taking place on Mt. Silver, the ferry to Kanto won’t be docking at New Bark for at least a few days. They want to make sure the surrounding area is safe for their current customers before restarting business.

Dejected, Joe began to walk back the way he came, which was through a small building that acted as a waiting room. There was a small cafe in the corner and a dozen rows of seats similar to an airport. Once out of the building, Joe walked along a path beside a parking lot until there was a warehouse on his right. All the while Cyndaquil, who was still being held in Joe’s arms, was reaching up to stroke its Trainer’s face in an effort to comfort him.

Amused by the kind gesture, Joe played along and acted more upset than he really was. As his Pokemon stroked his cheek, Joe quickly looked at the warehouse out of the corner of his eye. This port warehouse was notable to the young man for a number of reasons. The first reason was because a giant man, both in terms of height and muscle, stood at the entrance with his arms crossed. The second reason was because Absol looked in that direction with a glare when they first walked past it. And on the way back to town, instead of simply glaring, Absol began growling and walking towards the man standing at the warehouse entrance.

“Hey, where are you going?” Joe asked rhetorically, as he followed Absol.

Arriving in front of the big man, Joe could now appreciate just how large, and scary, this man was. He had to be approaching seven feet tall. He wore a simple tank top which showed off his arms the size of tree logs. But the thing that made the man scary were two visible scars, one on his right arm that curved up from his elbow to his shoulder and another on his cheek. Joe could only assume this giant man had seen combat even in these peaceful times.

As Absol continued to growl, clearly not worried about the increasingly angry man before her, Joe started talking. “Hey Absol, calm down. Sorry about this, I don’t know what’s wrong with her. She’s usually so nice.” He said with a fake chuckle.

Despite saying that, Joe had a pretty good idea as to why Absol was agitated. At first it may seem like Absol can only sense disasters, and that word invokes the thought of a natural disaster or a powerful Pokemon acting in a way that harms people. But Absol is able to sense a lot more than just catastrophes. She can pick up on even the smallest of things, like a Pokemon in trouble a mile away. So the fact that Absol had a problem with this giant of a man, or maybe the warehouse behind him, could only mean one thing. Something was going on here that was harming people or Pokemon.

“Leave.” With a voice so deep it could be felt, the man uttered one word.

Just before Joe could make a sarcastic remark about the man not being much of a talker, which probably wasn’t the smartest idea, a woman’s voice called out to them. To put them against each other in a competition wouldn’t even be fair, meathead’s voice was grating to hear while this woman’s voice was made for singing.

“There you are!” She arrived at Joe’s side and put a hand on his shoulder. “I told you, we’re meant to be reporting on the ferry being cancelled. This warehouse has nothing to do with our job.”

Joe quietly observed a camera in the woman’s other hand, as well as a camera hanging from a lanyard around her neck. Her hair was such a light shade of blonde it was almost white, and it seemed a little unkempt as it curled up into itself at the tips. If her hair was straightened it’d go beyond her shoulders. Her blank white shirt was appropriate considering it was a warm day, but her thick, baggy green trousers with numerous pockets seemed like the exact opposite of a good decision based on the weather.

“Sorry boss, I just got distracted. Come on Absol, stop bothering the man.” Joe played along. He had no idea who this woman was, but she was clearly trying to bail him out of a situation he shouldn’t be in.

Once they were back on solid ground in New Bark Town, not the mass of concrete held up by many pillars that was the port, the woman started talking again. “Boss, huh? That’s cute. I guess as your boss I should teach you how and when you pick your fights.”

“It’s already too late for that.” Joe said, glancing at Absol who was still turning her head every now and then in the direction of the warehouse. “So you’re a reporter? I’m guessing the reason you’re in the area is the same reason Absol has a problem with that warehouse.”

“Good observation. Maybe I should actually hire you.” The woman shot Joe a big smile before continuing. “A detective I’m in contact with got a tip that Team Rocket are active in New Bark Town. Been here about a week trying to figure out where. I’m almost certain it’s that warehouse, but now I need evidence.”

Team Rocket. They appeared on the news every now and then, so Joe very well knew who they were. To put it simply, they were a criminal organisation. A group, or team in this case, of people with no morals after some quick and easy money. From what Joe understood, their biggest money maker was selling Pokemon on the black market. Team Rocket did whatever they needed to get their hands on Pokemon worth selling, so more often than not they stole strong Pokemon from Trainers. This also created the theory that Team Rocket had found a way to sever the connection between a Pokemon and Pokeball, because otherwise there was no easy way to get a Pokemon to listen and obey a different person.

If this group of criminals really were here in New Bark Town, then Joe and Absol were definitely going to get involved somehow. They weren’t going to sit idly by while Pokemon were stolen from their Trainers. “If you need any help, count me in.”

The woman stopped and looked at Joe, which caused the young man to stop too. After a second of contemplation, she smiled and pointed at Joe. “I like you.” Moving her hand for a handshake, Joe obliged and shook her hand as she spoke further. “I wish there were more people with your attitude. I’m Viola, it’s great to meet you.”

“I’m Joe. It’s nice to meet you too, Viola. And I look forward to working with you.”

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“Ha, likewise. Let me quickly send my number to your phone.” She said, pulling her phone out of her pocket. “I’ve had an idea for gathering evidence for a couple of days now, but I don’t have the specifics worked out. Let me think a few things through before we act. I’ll send you my location tonight and we’ll see about dealing with Team Rocket.”

And with that, the pair split for the rest of the day. As Viola said, she was going to figure out exactly how she wanted to achieve her objective, and in the meantime Joe thought it would be a good idea to train. He was a brand new Trainer, he had no idea what he was doing. With the possibility that he was about to confront Team Rocket this very day, he needed to make sure he was capable in a fight.

Heading West to the open fields on the outskirts of New Bark, Joe entered Route 29 and began to learn what it was to be a Pokemon Trainer. First things first, commanding Pokemon in battle. Cyndaquil jumped from his arms as a half blue, half black Pokemon walked by. RotoPhone began floating in the bottom right of Joe’s field of view in order to feed him information. The wild Pokemon was called Shinx, but it appeared to be fairly weak. Cyndaquil was an even match for it. RotoPhone then noted that Shinx’s Ability was Intimidate, which meant Joe’s fire-type would be dealing less physical damage. Finally, Rotom pulled up a list of moves on the phone screen. In bold letters at the top of the screen were two moves. Tackle and Leer.

For now, Cyndaquil was only capable of lowering a target’s defence and dealing small amounts of damage with a normal-type move. But there were a variety of moves listed beneath that were currently greyed out. Those were moves Cyndaquil was capable of learning once it was stronger, although there was no clear measurement of strength to help keep track of where a Pokemon was on their journey to gain power. 

Joe ordered his Pokemon to use Leer to counteract the Intimidate Ability. A small shine came from Cyndaquil’s eye as it appeared to glare at Shinx, who began running at the fire-type starter. Cyndaquil managed to roll out of the way, avoiding getting hit by Tackle. It then steadied itself and used Tackle as Shinx skid to a halt, turned on its ankles and charged at Cyndaquil again.

The two Pokemon collided head first, sending both of them reeling from the pain of smashing their heads together. It appeared as though Shinx recovered first and started glaring at Joe’s Pokemon. Rotom quickly informed Joe it was Leer. Both Pokemon really were evenly matched.

While its opponent was using Leer, Cyndaquil was ordered to use Tackle again. It was a successful hit as Shinx was unable to move in time. In terms of recovery speed, Shinx was faster, but in terms of reflexes, Cyndaquil was better. Joe found it interesting to make mental notes of these small things. Every Pokemon was different in many ways, and it could prove useful to keep such details in mind for the future.

Before he knew it, Joe’s hand was in his pocket reaching for a Pokeball. He wasn’t even paying attention to the fact that Rotom was saying that capturing a Pokemon when it was weakened was the right decision. Joe was just excited and, in the moment, he subconsciously thought about catching Shinx. He was meant to be raising a team to support Absol, after all.

Without thinking about it twice, Joe threw a Pokeball at the weakened Pokemon. Shinx disappeared into the ball after being engulfed in some sort of red energy. One shake. Two shakes. To Joe’s surprise, this was quite exciting. Was he going to capture a Shinx? Was he going to have to try again? The Pokeball shook a third time and lay still as the button flashed yellow. That was it. Confirmation of a successful catch.

A big smile grew on Joe’s face as he ran up to his starter Pokemon and picked it up, throwing it into the air and making sure to catch it. “Good job, buddy!”

With an ecstatic Cyndaquil in his arms, Joe retrieved his new Pokemon, letting it out of the ball immediately. It shook its body, starting from its head and going through to its tail, and looked up at the human before it. It’s Trainer.

“Welcome to the team, Shinx.” Seeing the smiling human made Shinx happy and it began prancing around its Trainer as Rotom started talking.

“Shinx, the Flash Pokemon. All of its fur dazzles if danger is sensed. It flees while the foe is momentarily blinded.” After that, Rotom began listing information specific to this Shinx that now belonged to Joe. Gender, height and weight were not that important, and of course Rotom had already informed Joe of Shinx’s Ability so hearing it again wasn’t necessary, but the young man listened regardless.

As Joe listened to Rotom, he observed Shinx jog over to greet Absol. The Disaster Pokemon didn’t seem too welcoming at first, but Joe felt like she just needed some time. He had no idea how long she’d been acting alone. Suddenly having a group of allies could be a little off putting and take time to adjust to.

Since he was on the subject of Absol, Joe told Rotom to share information about Absol. He knew about his starter Cyndaquil and his newest addition Shinx, but he still hadn’t learnt what his first Pokemon was capable of. As the listing for Absol opened on RotoPhone, Joe noticed the Absol in the picture was a different colour. Rotom explained that Joe’s Absol was a shiny Pokemon, a variant in colouration that rarely appears. Normal Absol were blue with white fur, whereas a shiny Absol, like the one Joe had, was red with white fur. This had to be the rarest Absol in the history of rare Absols. Not only was she a shiny Pokemon, but she had a currently unknown Ability.

Back on track, Rotom pulled a list of moves for Absol. The list of moves she knew and was capable of learning was massive. Although at first something else caught Joe’s attention. All the moves Absol knew were in bold, as expected, but the top four moves had golden stars to the left of the name. When questioned on this, Rotom explained that while Pokemon can keep learning moves, in official battles like Gym or League battles, Trainers have to pick four moves to use. It’s so battles don’t become a mess with twenty moves from each Pokemon flying all over the battlefield. The four move limit for official battles is meant to make Trainers think more strategically about what Pokemon their opponent might use and how to counter them. 

Absol’s four starred moves were currently Shadow Ball, Psycho Cut, Ice Beam and Sucker Punch, and had been picked out by Rotom based on recent activity. It was scary how just a scan of a Pokemon could reveal information like what moves it used last. Technology was frightening. Some of the other moves on the list were Night Slash, Crunch, Quick Attack, and so on.

“You really are strong.” Joe blurted out. “Well since we’re out here, we might as well continue to train, right guys?”

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