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Pokemon FireRed: Despairlocke	By : Atxdepboy Category: +M through R > Pokemon Views: 4976 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is purely a work of fiction. I own no rights to Pokemon or any of its associated offshoots, nor do I make a dime for any work. Or a nickle. Or a penny. Or any unit of currency.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
Summary: Reed adds to his own team, and encounters another team.
Note: Thank you for reading! I'm really enjoying writing this, and I hope you guys are having fun too. It should be obvious at this point that I don't do much editing for this one - it's usually something that I cram into my day, then get eager to share. If there is anything particularly egregious, please let me know - either on here, or through my tumblr (despairlocke dot tumblr) - and I'll try to get it fixed.

As always, if you wanna read more, let me know. Reviews, favorites, it's all appreciated.

CHAPTER 5: ALL THINGS IN THEIR PROPER PLACE

11 Days, 6 Hours Since Pallet Town

Reed had kept Brax inside of his ball all day. He was having trouble looking at the Pokemon, after what he’d allowed it to do the day before. That wasn’t quite right, though. It wasn’t what he’d allowed. It was what he’d wanted. What he’d invited. And it had felt good, better than he’d expected. The warm glow had lasted just as long as it took him to slip from the tent, to step into the night air and squat in the grass away from the campsite - pushing the gooey machop seed out of himself. That was when the shame had started. The hot embarrassment burning in his cheeks.

He’d done his best to cover up the slight limp he’d experienced the next morning, stopping by one of the checkpoints on his way out of Pewter City. In truth, he’d welcome the rush of humiliation. It was better than thinking about Haden. Better than continuing to acutely feel his absence. The checkpoint had been generous, giving him three pokeballs for his journey to the next city over. He palmed one of them, letting his mind drift to the day before. How it had felt when Brax had taken him. The machop had been remarkable gentle, had let him make all the first moves. He wondered if a human lover would have done the same. Then, the realization that he’d allowed a Pokemon to take his virginity struck him, and he returned to attempting to think of anything else.

He heard the snap of the twig behind him, his reflexes just sharp enough to send him stepping to the side as a tan ball of fur and muscles flew past him, leg extended, landing against a tree before turning to face him again. He recognized the creature immediately. A mankey. Like the kind that Bruce had had - though this one struck him as a bit older, a bit of paunch on its form. Clearly, whatever it was eating up in these hills was plentiful. It growled at him, giving a screech, before charging. No time to worry about being awkward around Brax now, he was releasing the machop’s pokeball and dodging to the side in one motion. The grey-skinned pokemon emerged, throwing a kick at the mankey’s legs as it flew from its ball, knocking the creature on its front..

The mankey was clearly surprised by the resistance it was facing, perhaps expecting the human to be defenseless. It rolled forward, attempting to put some distances between it and Brax before rising to its feet. Brax did not give it the opportunity, instead moving forward to grip it by its arm, spinning the surprised creature around and throwing it into a nearby tree. Reed knew an opportunity when he saw it. The mankey was stunned for a few seconds, and that was all he needed. He threw the pokeball he’d been holding earlier, striking the creature in its side and drawing it inside. The ball shook violently for a few seconds, before relenting.

Reed exhaled audibly, sinking against a tree. He wasn’t sure how he felt about training a mankey, the creature summoning bad memories to-mind. But he wasn’t about to allow himself any amount of weakness. He walked to the ball, slipping it onto his belt. “Niklos,” he said, under his breath. “Your name is Niklos.”

He looked up. Brax was still out of his ball, staring at him. The creature looked at his eyes, before looking down, kicking a stone with his foot. Perhaps he was embarrassed too. A twitch of guilt. He always underestimate how smart Brax was, how in-tune he was with Reed’s own feelings. Reed sighed once, stepping forward, wrapping his arms around the machop’s shoulders and pulling him close.

“Thank you. It’s okay. We’re okay.”

- - - -

11 Days, 8 Hours Since Pallet Town

Reed had been grateful when they found a stream a few hours later, happy to get the chance to wash off and refill his canteen. He’d been disappointed then to find that it was running black, this close to the mines. He’d decided to take the moment to rest regardless, perching himself in the shade of a large tree and leaning back, listening to the sound of the dirty water rushing nearby. Mt. Moon was close. It was the best option he had for proceeding - some trainers he’d met at the checkpoint had been talking about a series of tunnels that ran right through the mountain, that were rarely used and could be utilized to circumvent any hostile trainers that might be lying in-wait. He thought about pulling one of his pokemon from their balls. Perhaps Okie, with his soft fur that would feel nice to pet idly for a moment or two. Perhaps Brax, to-

He screwed up his eyes, a look of distaste at his own wandering thoughts, pushing them from his mind and contenting himself to simply ‘be’. It was something that everyone who’d grown up in Pallet Town had had to learn. How to be satisfied with simply existing for a few moments, to recenter oneself and move forward. He thought back to his days there. Fishing for seven hours a day, then returning to a home cramped with family. Overflowing with warmth. Whatever happened from here on out, those days were behind him. For better or worse.

“Hoy! You there!”

He cracked an eye open, instinctively reaching a hand down to his belt. The area next to the stream was fairly sparse, a clear opening where the ground was mostly made up of smooth river stones, the area where the water would spread to when the strong annual rains would come. Across this clearing, standing at the opposite treeline, were three men. They looked to Reed to be just a few years old than him, in their mid-twenties. He rose slowly to his feet.

“Not looking for any trouble,” he called out, sizing them up, wondering if he’d be able to beat all three of them back-to-back.

“Neither are we.” As they stepped forward, he realized they were telling the truth. Their trainer watches were gone. He let his posture relax slightly, though he kept his hands close to Brax’s pokeball.

“What can I do for you?”

“We, uh-” As they got closer, he realized how disheveled they looked. Their clothes were torn, scrapes and cuts on their dirty skin. One man had lost a shoe at some point, and his bare foot was bloody. “We just wanted to warn you. If you’re going up towards the mountain, towards Cerulean - you need to turn back now. Team Rocket had set up a post there, waiting for trainers to pass through.”

Reed said nothing, though his expression must have betrayed his confusion.

“You know who Team Rocket is, right?”

Reed rolled his shoulders, embarrassed to be caught in his ignorance. “Lemme guess, some group of wannabe trainers who’ve allied together, thinking it’ll give them an edge over the rest of us?”

The three men glanced nervously at each other, before one of them spoke. “Points for effort, at least. Team Rocket are . . . well, let’s just say that not all Elites are big on the Tour. Some of them think that folk like us, we overstep our bounds by trying to become them. Their motto’s something like, er, “things go-”

“All things in their proper place. By carrot, or by lash.” One of his associates finished for him, his tone somber.

“Right. That’s about how it goes. They travel in packs or ten or so, usually. They find small groups of trainers - people by themselves, if they can, and all challenge them one after another. They even pay an enforcer to go around with them, so it’s all official. Guess they found out that people use the mountain pass up ahead on the Tour quite a bit, so they decided to post up there.”

“I see,” Reed reached up, scratching the side of his head. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll keep my head down.”

“We’re serious, stranger. If you go up there, you’ll be inviting more misfortune on yourself than you can handle. Come with us. If you surrender your pokemon to an enforcer, at least you’ll be able to go home on your own terms.”

Reed shook his head. It was time to move on. “I’m serious too. If there’s one thing I’m getting a handle on out here, it’s dealing with misfortune. Good luck to you.” He pushed onward towards the tree line, leaving the men to watch his retreating form - wondering if they might say anything to try and change his mind. They were silent as they watched him leave.

- - - -

11 Days, 12 Hours Since Pallet Town

At first, Reed had thought it was a rock. When it sprang to life and began to throw nearby stones at his head, he’d been forced to revise that initial impression - ducking behind a tree and freeing Brax from his ball. He moved with the same practiced determination that he had in the Testing Center - knocking each stone aside with the back of his hand. The geodude was skilled, a few of his throws catching the machop off-guard - glancing blows against his thighs, his shoulder. The machop eventually managed to close the distance, thumping the creature on the head with an open palm - hard enough to daze it, but not hard enough to cause any real damage. Reed saw his second opportunity, throwing a pokeball at the creature - capturing it after two indignant rattles of the device. He approached it cautiously. It seemed his past was being dragged out to haunt him. If mankey was associated with poor memories, geodude was associated with genuine trauma. Still, that wasn’t the pokemon’s fault. He picked up its ball.

“Regis. Good name, yeah?” He glanced at Brax, who nodded and grinned. He saw the machop’s groin plumping up a bit. It was so hard not to look at it now. Before, he’d simply grown accustomed to it. It had been normal. Now, his eyes were drawn to it. Brax saw where his eyes were going, reaching down to touch himself, giving a questioning look to his trainer. Reed felt his stomach clench, and his mouth water. He took a small step forward, before a cry sounded - maybe half a mile away. It was a young male voice, one laden with terror. Reed’s jerked his head in the direction of the scream. It came again. He glanced at Brax, nodding once, before taking off.

This close-up, the mountain seemed to dwarf him, to consume the whole sky. He was right at the base now, and as he barreled through the trees, he realized that the scream had come from direction of the mountain itself. Whoever it was, they must have been trying to enter one of the tunnels that went under the mountain. He moved as fast as his feet could carry him, Brax keeping up admirably behind. Finally, he came to the edge of the trees as the clearing beneath the mountain opened up, skidding to a halt and ducking behind one of the trunks, intending to take a look at his odds before jumping in head-first.

The clearing was bare, save for a few large stones that were roughly Reed’s own height. Confirming his suspicions, a shaft opened into the side of the mountain - small enough so that two men walking shoulder-to-shoulder might fit inside, but not much else. Sitting against one of the rocks, pressed up against it as tightly as he could, was a young woman about Reed’s age. Slight build, short - dirty-blond hair a tangled mop falling over her forehead. A few feet away from her, looming above him, was a man perhaps a few years older. He had the built of a sportsman, his hair cropped neatly, his uniform crisp black and red, military-styled. And a few feet away from him, an enforcer - looking a touch disinterested with the proceedings. The girl’s face was streaked with tears.

“Please, please let me go. I don’t want to fight, I’ll surrender my pokemon!” She called out pointedly to the enforcer this time. “Please! I said I’ll surrender my pokemon.”

The enforcer ignored her.

“I’m afraid that’s not how it works, kiddo,” the uniformed boy said, tossing a pokeball in the air. “See, you got just a little too big for your britches. And now you’re going to pay for it. Once I press this button,” he gestured to his watch, “your pokemon and mine are going to have a little dance. When that’s done, you and I will have a long, long time to get to know each other better. Sounds fun, eh?”

The girl tucked her head, shaking slightly.

“Heh. They always have more bark than bite, don’t-”

The man’s voice died in his throat, as his watch beeped red. The sign that a challenge had been wagered. “What the-? I didn’t press it.”

“I did.” Reed stepped into the clearing, a pokeball in his own hand. He sized the Team Rocket Goon up, for he was sure that that was who the man was. “You’ve got three, yeah? Then I wager three.”

“Filthy upstart,” the man growled, turning on his heel. “Who the hell do you think you are? Do you have any idea the sort of fight you’re picking?”

Reed looked past him at the girl. “Run into the woods. They won’t find you there.” The girl stared at him for only a moment, before nodding, taking off past him. The Rocket Grunt moved to step past him, but Reed moved to block his path. “You forgetting something?”

The man growled again, this time holding a pokeball up, brandishing it at him. “You little nothing. You cost me a good score. When I beat you, I’m having them chop your balls off and feed them to you.”

He threw. Reed did as well. A sandshrew emerged on the field, followed by Regis, the geodude. Reed had the utmost faith that Brax could handle anything this ass might throw at him, so it wasn’t a bad time to test the limits of his new team members.

The stone pokemon rolled forward, shaking off the lights of its emergence from the pokeball. It glanced over what passed for its shoulder at him, slamming each fist down into the earth and nodding at him. The sandshrew rolled itself into a ball, charging forward. The geodude noticed it at the last moment, throwing itself up into the air, letting the Sandshrew roll past harmlessly. As it turned, sliding in a crescent and coming back around, the geodude fall down - holding its hands above its head and slamming them into the ground on impact, launching the sandshrew up into the air with the concussive force. It didn’t waste any time, gripping two nearby stones and throwing them into the sandshrew’s airborne form. When it came back to earth, it was unconscious.

“Damn it!” The Rocket Grunt snarled, withdrawing it, before sending out a new pokemon. Regis returned to his side, waiting for instructions.

“Wait here,” he said, simply, before throwing the next ball. Onto the battlefield came a zubat, followed by Niklos. The mankey seemed confused at first, throwing its limbs again, screeching and hopping. Its eyes settled on Reed, narrowed, before it shook its head violently - turning to face its enemy. The momentary distraction cost it - the zubat swooping down, catching it in the side with a barbed wing, then swinging back up again.

The mankey stumbled, shaking its head. It charged after the flying creature. Where Brax was all composed, careful movements, the mankey was all animal instinct and rage - charging, clawing at the air. The zubat was faster. It dive-bombed its opponent - striking it, then flying out of reach. The mankey couldn’t focus, couldn't’ compose itself and wait for an opening. It was getting battered. Even worse, it was getting exhausted.

Seeing the Grunt grinning over at him, Reed could only grit his teeth. “Regis, switch out with him!” The geodude rolled forward, as the mankey turned into light and returned to its ball with a roar of indignation at having its battle interrupted. The geodude was accustomed to slow-moving, it seemed. It waited for an opening, letting the zubat swoop down to it it. The barb bounced harmlessly off of its rocky skin, and it landed a stone directly in the center of the bat as it turned to fly back up. The pokemon dropped, unconscious as well. Two down, one to go.

“F-fuck, you . . . g-go, rattata!”

Reed grinned. The Grunt was out of pokemon. This was his last ditch effort, his beta pokemon. He tapped Brax’s ball. The machop emerged, bursting into life next to the rattata and gripping it by the tail, lifting it up and punting it towards its trainer, the mouse rolling across the clearing and landing at its trainer’s feet. The match was over.

“There, now. How about you return to whatever posh tower you came from and contemplate how badly you lost today?”

He’d never felt this confident. Team Rocket, talked about as if they were the boogeyman. He’d beaten one. He’d taken one of the Elite, and rubbed the man’s own flagrant lack of superiority in his face.

The Grunt was turning red from fury, but he said nothing - his face contorting into something between a grimace and a grin. “Just you wait, you little shit. You’ll get yours.”

Reed remembered then. What the others had said. Team Rocket traveled in packs. He could hear them. Several sets of shouts and footsteps, not too far away. He’d won this fight handily, but there was no way that his team could handle much more. If they could him here, they could challenge him one-by-one. He could lose. And they clearly weren’t in the business of letting their opponent surrender gracefully. He returned Brax to his pokeball, before starting to move towards the mine shaft.

“What’s the matter, eh? Lost your nerve!?” The grunt called after him. “Where’d all your bravery go, eh? Stay awhile, boy, I promise it will be illuminating!”

Reed didn’t listen to him. He wasn’t ready to end this. He wasn’t ready to lose. He didn’t have time to think. He moved from a brisk walk to a run, throwing himself into the opening, sliding down the incline of the mine shaft, disappearing into cool, silent darkness.
- 5
- 6
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Pokemon FireRed: Despairlocke