Chapter 23: Run in with criminals!
It was the second day of the journey back to Jubilife and Shuichi was currently in a battle. Shuichi had found a hut with a water wheel along with a man who was living there. The man had an Absol.
Absol had a dark blue face with a short, catlike muzzle, a small, black, triangular nose, a scythe-like tail, and sickle-shaped growth on the right side of its head along with a snow-white coat. Absol was rarely seen outside the mountains and they also had a special ability to sense danger.
Shuichi challenged the man and the man accepted the battle, Shuichi sent out Eevee and while the battle was underway Absol suddenly stopped and looked to the side. "Absol? What's wrong?" The man asked but Absol didn't answer and only looked to the side.
Shuichi looked to the side to see something on the horizon, a blue and red dragon-like Pokémon with huge red wings and red eyebrows was coming in fast with someone on its back! Shuichi took his Pokédex a little unfamiliar with the Pokémon and identified it as a Salamence.
Salamence were powerful dragon-type Pokémon, their aggression and territorial behaviour were well documented so whoever it was that could even ride such a Pokémon would have to be someone special.
The person riding the Salamence was a slim woman with greyish-blue hair. She was dressed in a long purple collared jacket and a red outfit underneath, with red heels. On her left arm, she had a gauntlet.
Shuichi could feel Salamence's emotions and it caused him to frown, there was respect but there was also joy and even a slight sliver of fear. What kind of person could have such an effect on a dragon Pokémon like Salamence?
"Target acquired, along with a bonus it seems like." The woman spoke coldly which reminded Shuichi of his past. People who spoke like this were always no good, he should know as he was someone like that.
Shuichi pulled out Eevee's Pokéball seeing enough red flags and wanted to recall Eevee, the woman however was one step ahead of Shuichi. "Ariados, String Shot." She said as she threw out a Pokéball, Ariados came out and it immediately shot directly at Shuichi and the man binding them in an instant.
Ariados's emotions were slightly different than Salamence's, there wasn't much joy just more fear than anything. Ariados was afraid of its trainer and thus it acted the best it could or else it would get hurt. It was a disgusting feeling to Shuichi.
Eevee and Absol wanted to help however, the woman suddenly pointed her gauntlet towards Absol and shot out an orange beam that instantly made Absol into a bronze statue! She then turned her attention to Eevee and began to aim. "Quick Attack to dodge!" Shuichi quickly instructed.
Eevee's training and trust in Shuichi came to fruition as he quickly sped to the side narrowly evading the beam sent his way. "Tch." The woman clicked her tongue and continued firing, but Eevee kept dodging them.
"Ariados, String Shot" The woman's patience was running thin, Ariados started to shoot webs at Eevee who kept dodging. There wasn't much room for attacking due to Ariados shooting off the webs at a very high speed.
Eevee on the other hand was starting to get tired, using Quick Attack to dodge continuously was not an optimal plan. "Eevee get close and use Swift on me!" Shuichi had to break free to recall Eevee.
"Ariados" The woman simply said and Ariados suddenly jumped right next to Shuichi, "Take one more step and he's dead." The woman coldly said as Eevee suddenly stopped. "Eevee! Just run!" Shuichi was prepared to die for his own Pokémon however Eevee wasn't and froze completely.
The woman aimed her gauntlet at Eevee once more and fired it directly hitting him and turning him into a bronze statue. "Targets captured." The woman said and two glass casings suddenly came out of a vehicle that sped towards them. Eevee and Absol were directly taken.
"Eevee!!" Shuichi shouted he couldn't believe Eevee would be taken away from him just like that. He could feel something burning in his stomach, anger, an anger so strong he couldn't hold himself back anymore along with something he hadn't touched in decades.
"Hm?" The woman could feel bloodlust brewing in the air, she was a hardened criminal who had seen the dark side of people so she was naturally sensitive to these feelings. The air Shuichi was currently giving off was one of the thickest feelings she'd ever felt.
Ariados was next to Shuichi and it was shaking like a leaf more scared of this stranger than its trainer. "I'll kill you!" Shuichi venomously spat at the woman.
The woman was more intrigued than scared "You're very interesting, but that makes you more dangerous down the line. Ariados, kill him." The woman didn't want to take any chances
Ariados hesitated for a second but soon determination was brought forward and just as it was about to slash down it was interrupted by a third female voice "Arcanine, Flamethrower!" An Arcanine spat out a huge stream of flames directly crashing into Ariados making it unconscious.
The flamethrower singed the Sting Shot breaking Shuichi free. Shuichi turned and he could see Officer Jenny along with a few familiar faces, it was Ash and the group! Just what were they doing here?
"J! Give me back Pikachu!" Ash yelled as he ran next to Officer Jenny, The woman who was named J turned to Ash. "Oh, it's you again." She didn't seem to be all that distressed by Ash or Officer Jenny for that matter.
"J! You are under arrest!" Officer Jenny wanted to apprehend J however J wasn't going down without a fight. "You've done quite well to track me however I'm not going anywhere with you. Salamence, Hyper Beam." She said and Salamence obliged firing off a big orange beam.
"Arcanine, Flamethrower!" Officer Jenny repeated the same order and Arcanine fired off another blast of fire, the blast collided with the Hyper Beam however the Hyper Beam just continued undisturbed by the Flamethrower! The Hyper Beam continued until it smashed into the ground before Ash and Officer Jenny causing both of them to be pushed back.
"Let's go." J coldly said as the vehicle collected Eevee and Absol, a man that was driving the vehicle nodded and started the engine. Shuichi and Ash both quickly ran to the vehicle and dived under it, Shuichi and Ash were surprised to already find someone under there. It was Team Rocket.
"There's not enough space for you two here!" James said with a hushed tone. Shuichi didn't care, Eevee was in danger and he was going to get him back. "I've got no choice, so I apologise," Shuichi said and he punched both Jessie and James off the underside of the vehicle.
"Was that necessary!" Jessie yelled as Ash and Shuichi sped off with the vehicle, Ash did not advocate violence however even he was too angry to discuss this and Team Rocket did deserve it a little for how often they tried to steal Pikachu.
Brock and Dawn tried to block off the vehicle but it just sped over a hill causing it to jump over them. "It's Ash!" "And Shuichi!" Brock noticed Ash while Dawn noticed Shuichi under the vehicle.
The vehicle continued to ride and it rode inside an aircraft that lifted off and flew off while cloaking itself making it invisible. Shuichi and Ash were both waiting under the vehicle for the coast to be cleared, men came out of the vehicle and they took Eevee and Absol somewhere else.
Once the coast was cleared Shuichi and Ash both crawled from under the vehicle, looking around they could see more vehicles everywhere. Just how much did all of this cost? "It's better if we split off, we could cover more ground," Ash said as he released Aipom to help search and they both went off.
Shuichi agreed but he didn't release any of his Pokémon. Shuichi took a deep breath and recalled his past life's training, in the past he had done plenty of guerrilla missions. He slowed his breath and moved in a way that didn't create much sound while still keeping speed.
Walking down the hallways Shuichi suddenly heard the sound of footsteps ringing out, he quickly dove into a corner and waited for the footsteps to pass by him. A man dressed in beige combat gear walked past Shuichi, it was he the man was a patrolling guard of J.
Shuichi silently followed the man and snatched the man's Pokéballs, once they were gone he suddenly grabbed the man by the neck and dug his fingers into the man's Larynx. The man was struggling and wanted to grab his Pokéballs only to realise they were gone.
"Don't scream, don't struggle or you will die. Where do you keep the captured Pokémon?" Shuichi immediately threatened the man and wanted info. The man didn't listen and wanted to struggle and elbow Shuichi, Shuichi tightened his grip a little causing the man to choke and immediately try to pry off the hand around his throat.
Shuichi released a little and reiterated what he wanted. "Last warning, where do you keep the captured Pokémon?" The man seemed to realise the threat and wanted to speak, "Point in the direction." Shuichi didn't want to take any chances.
The man pointed the way Shuichi needed to follow, he could feel Shuichi was dead serious about his threat to end his life. Once Shuichi had the man do it again to make sure he wasn't lying he gripped a little tighter to make the man pass out, he would keep his promise to not kill the man.
Shuichi walked the path that the guard pointed out, he still paid attention to other footsteps and other sounds. Suddenly the sound of battle was ahead, it sounded like Ash was battling someone. Shuichi on the other hand sneaked past the sounds and continued until he encountered a door.
Shuichi opened the door and came into a storage room, "Hey! Yuh dere! Could yuh give me a hand, or what?" a voice came from the room and Shuichi could see Team Rocket's Meowth was currently half frozen in a glass case.
Shuichi could also see Absol, Pikachu and even a Pokémon he's been searching for. A Gardevoir! All in the room, he also quickly spotted Eevee! Shuichi first ran over to Eevee and noticed a slider on the casing, he pushed the slider down to free Eevee.
Eevee jumped into Shuichi's arms and Shuichi released a big sigh. Before he could celebrate a sound could be heard, the grate to the side was pushed off and Ash climbed out the vent along with his Aipom and Turtwig.
"Shuichi! How did you-? Ah! Pikachu!" Ash first wanted to ask Shuichi how he found this place so fast but quickly ran to Pikachu. Shuichi told Ash how to operate it and Pikachu was also freed. "That's nice and all but can yuh help me, or what? My head's about tuh fall off! Meowth asked again.
Ash and Shuichi quickly freed all the remaining Pokémon including Meowth, just as they were about to exit they noticed more guards now blocking the path. "You're not getting out of here with the goods!" A man said with a raspy voice and bruises around his neck indicated this was the same guard Shuichi had knocked out.
Shuichi didn't think the man would already be awake, had he made a mistake not killing the man? Shuichi quickly shook those thoughts out of his mind, he didn't need this type of distraction now. "Eevee, let's do this," Shuichi said and Eevee agreed.
The man released a mouse-like Pokémon with two large teeth, brown fur and a long skinny tail. It was Raticate. Shuichi could feel nothing but aggression from the Pokémon indicating that it had seen plenty of blood in its time. Another guard released a Golbat and Ash decided to take that man on.
"Raticate, Bite!" The man instructed and Raticate ran at Shuichi and Eevee, "Eevee, Quick Attack!" Shuichi wasn't going to underestimate his opponent and was going all out. Eevee charged at Raticate and slammed into it, Raticate couldn't bite Eevee as it was being slammed.
"Big Swift!" Shuichi quickly double-tapped, "Raticate, Hyper Fang!" The opponent wasn't going down just like that and Raticate charged in again with an open mouth. Eevee's tail glowed and he jumped back to dodge the Hyper Fang and shot out one big star surprising Raticate and the opponent.
"Dodge it Raticate!" The opponent noticed the star was slow and had Raticate jump out at the last possible moment. The star didn't fizzle out however and continued its path slamming directly into the hull of the ship creating a massive hole. Whirlwinds came immediately as the hole tried to suck everything out of the ship.
Ash's battle was interrupted and he quickly returned Aipom and Turtwig before they were thrown outside of the ship, he then pulled out a different Pokéball. "Staravia, inform Officer Jenny where we are!" He yelled as the bird Pokémon flew out.
Meanwhile, in the control room, J was informed of the damage to the ship. "Tch, now we have to find another Absol and Gardevoir. Discard the damaged part." J was a little annoyed but still looked forward. The men were a little hesitant. "But, sir, there's still some of our people there."
J looked coldly towards the man "And?" She just spoke one word but it was clear what she meant by that, she didn't care about their lives. The man nodded solemnly and detached the damaged part from the ship.
Back at Shuichi's location, everyone was slowly getting acclimated to the winds and just as they were about to continue the fight they felt the ground under them shift as they began to freefall down. "She's released this compartment! How could she do this to us!" The man was horrified by the sudden betrayal of J.
Everyone was screaming and panicking, Shuichi was the most calm among them and Ash also hugged Pikachu and hoped for the best. Shuichi suddenly spotted Gardevoir as it too was panicking, "Gardevoir!" he called out to her, getting its attention.
"We need you to calm down! Can you teleport us out of here?" Shuichi asked her, Gardevoir nodded and a slight hint of appreciation was on its emotions. Gardevoir calmed down and focused, a small light appeared around everyone.
Shuichi felt a slight shift and he suddenly found himself back on the ground, he looked around to see everyone had made it safely including J's men and Meowth, the latter who was slowly creeping away.
Officer Jenny quickly arrived to capture J's men, with her were Brock, Dawn, Absol's trainer and Gardevoir's trainer. Gardevoir's trainer was a young woman with long dark pink hair and was wearing a light blue dress and an apron
"Thank you so much for your help in rescuing Gardevoir! If there's anything I can help with please don't hesitate to ask!" Gardevoir's trainer who introduced herself as Melodi said.
Ash nodded and didn't ask for anything, Shuichi on the other hand took advantage of the sudden kindness. "Well, there is something I hope Gardevoir can help me with. In private I hope." Shuichi carefully asked.
Melodi looked at Gardevoir who in turn looked at Shuichi. She could sense that something deep was bothering Shuichi and Shuichi did help her earlier so she nodded. "Gardevoir, can you teleport us home?" Melodi asked and Gardevoir nodded again. A light gathered around them and Shuichi had just enough time to wave bye at everyone.
Dawn looked solemnly at Shuichi's disappearance, she had a feeling it was about his nightmares. They had all seen the earlier battle between J and Shuichi, which was easily the angriest she'd ever seen Shuichi and his earlier threat against her didn't seem like a bluff. She feared Shuichi was changing faster than he could even realise.
Shuichi was teleported to a beautiful garden with a house, "They're really pretty." Shuichi commented on the flowers. "Thank you! It's a slight hassle to keep them up but they're worth it." Melodi chit-chatted a little with Shuichi.
Soon the topic of the request was brought up and Shuichi asked if he and Gardevoir could have a little privacy, Melodi was a little hesitant, especially after what happened today however Gardevoir agreed.
"Thank you, I suppose I should explain a few things first. Due to some circumstances, I have the same ability as you." Shuichi revealed his ability to Gardevoir who was shocked and even sceptical. Shuichi quickly confirmed by accurately telling Gardevoir her own emotions, even when she changed them.
"Now here's where I need your help, I've been having nightmares and I can't figure out why they keep happening. I was hoping you could mirror my own emotions as I remember the nightmares to understand them better." Shuichi told Gardevoir his problems and his theory.
Even Gardevoir was a little sceptical that it would work but after a few tests, it became evident it had a decent chance to work. Shuichi tried to remember what it felt like to experience the nightmares, he tried to remember his conversations with Kristoph.
After focusing for a few minutes he tried sensing Gardevoir her emotions, he was happy he could sense something but quickly frowned when he registered what he felt. Fear, anger, shame but deep underneath it all was a sense of guilt and sadness. Guilt and sadness? Shuichi didn't understand it.
He felt guilty and sad about his nightmares? What did that even mean? Was he guilty about the acts he committed in his past life? Sure, but he had left the past behind and even then he didn't know that his actions were morally wrong at the time.
Shuichi was even more confused now than before. "Well it worked, but now I just have more questions." Shuichi smiled bitterly.
Gardevoir was a little disappointed that she couldn't help more, "Don't be disappointed Gardevoir, you've done exactly what I needed you to do so I thank you for that." The rest was up to Shuichi now.
Shuichi went up to Melodi and also thanked her for her willingness to help, he initially wanted to pay however she refused profusely. So instead he helped a little with the flowers, which would also put some more distance between him and Ash.
After helping for a few hours he continued on the road to Jubilife, he didn't try to find the trainer with the Absol to resume their battle. The road to Jubilife was very normal compared to encountering J, it had been another two days until Shuichi finally managed to get to Jubilife.
Battles had changed slightly since Shuichi had gotten the Coal badge. Trainers with no badges didn't want to bet with him anymore as they weren't confident of winning, Shuichi hadn't encountered someone with one badge yet.
Eevee, Combusken and Clamperl haven't gotten a new move as Shuichi wanted to focus their training more on powering up their moves and base attributes.
Shuichi also wanted to give combination moves a shot, which were mainly used in contests for making moves and Pokémon look amazing but Shuichi wanted to try to power up the moves with combinations.
As for Shuichi himself, he still hadn't had a nightmare yet however, he sometimes started to hear voices again but they were quickly gone as if he only imagined them. He didn't think they'd come back this quickly though.
Entering Jubilife once more was weirdly normal, this time Shuichi would go to the Center and look for a simple job and earn some of his travelling costs back. The lack of bets was a wake-up call that jobs were a more stable source of income.
('I wonder what type of job would be avail- huh?') As Shuichi was thinking about the potential job he suddenly spotted a familiar face through the streets of Jubilife. Shuichi walked over to the face he spotted "Excuse me! Professor Rowan?"
Professor Rowan turned around to see Shuichi walking towards him, "Ah! Shuichi, it's been a while, how are you doing?" Rowan remembered Shuichi. "Excellent Professor, I've recently gotten the Coal badge!" Shuichi said as he showed Rowan the badge. He didn't want to explain his recent encounter with J.
Rowan could see the badge was the real deal, "Well done! Roark is no pushover and this means you've managed to take one step closer to the Lily of the Valley tournament." Rowan commented.
Shuichi nodded "Thanks Professor, although I have to ask, why are you currently in Jubilife City?" Shuichi thought Rowan would spend most of his time in the laboratory in Sandgem Town.
"Well, I'm here to present some new research to one of my associates here in Jubilife. As for what the research is about, it's mainly about using electricity to give electric types more energy during evolution." Professor Rowan explained to Shuichi.
Professor Rowan mainly studied evolution and ways to interact with the evolution process, it was a dangerous type of research as one wrong move could spell disaster. Not only for the Professor but also for the Pokémon itself.
Pokémon need special energy to evolve which is gained unconsciously through battling, Rowan was trying to circumvent or perhaps boost the phenomenon using a special method.
('It's an interesting thought process, if this turns out to be correct then it could turn the entire trainer world upside down!') Shuichi realised the importance of the research. Giving trainers a way to make the evolution process stronger would no doubt cause immense waves.
"If that's true and the research turns out to be incredible then I'm more worried about you Professor, what if someone bad wanted that research?" Shuichi asked concernedly to Professor Rowan, especially after his recent run-in with J.
"Come now Shuichi, who would possibly want a theory and an incomplete and dangerous one at that?" Professor Rowan found the idea quite ridiculous. Suddenly just as Professor Rowan foreshadowed two men in grey and black spacesuits along with turquoise hair came into view.
"You there, you're Professor Rowan correct?" The man asked Professor Rowan, Shuichi recognised these people from a glance; It was Team Galactic. ('Ugh, why am I encountering all these criminals recently?') Shuichi first encountered J and now Team Galactic.
Professor Rowan however didn't seem to recognise them "Indeed I am, do you need something?" He asked them, the Team Galactic pair smiled and said "Yes, we want your research. Hand it over." They demanded.
Professor Rowan still didn't exactly feel threatened "Now why would you want that? You should know it's still incomplete and quite dangerous." He repeated the words that he told Shuichi. "We don't care, just hand it over before we have to get serious." The Galactic grunts repeated their threat.
Shuichi decided to cut in at this point, "And what if he doesn't?" He suddenly asked them getting their attention. "Well, then we have to rough him up a little with our Pokémon." The Galactic grunts explained.
Shuichi snorted a little, these guys were a joke in the game so he doubted they would even be a big threat. The threats of Team Galactic were the admins and the boss Cyrus himself, the grunts were nothing more than cannon fodder. "Why not take me on? No need to bother the Professor with you two."
The grunts turned towards Shuichi, "Back off kid, just go home to your parents before you get hurt." The grunts didn't seem to take Shuichi seriously. Shuichi grinned and grabbed his Pokéballs, "Are you scared of this youngster?" He arrogantly taunted them.
This seemed to get their attention "Fine then, we'll rough you up before we rough up the Professor!" The grunts also grabbed their Pokéballs. "Glameow!" "Stunky!" The grunts released their Pokémon, Stunky was a small skunk-like Pokémon in dark purple and white fur.
"Are you sure about this Shuichi?" Professor Rowan asked Shuichi a little worriedly, he didn't want someone to get hurt because he was being targeted. "No worries Professor, these criminals are no match for us." Shuichi appeased Professor Rowan's worries.
Shuichi sensed Stunky and Glameow's emotions and he could sense that they were afraid but they were also not confident at all. Shuichi pitied them, if they had better trainers they could've been much happier.
"Clamperl, Combusken, get ready!" Shuichi said as he threw their Pokéballs, both of his Pokémon came out and were ready for a battle. Some bystanders were willing to watch while others went to look for the police, it was well-known that Pokémon battles in the streets were prohibited.
"Glameow, Scratch!" "You two Stunky!" The grunts started off the battle and they both went for the most basic move in their arsenal proving Shuichi's thoughts. "Combusken, big Ember! Clamperl big Whirlpool!" Only had Combusken act for now and Clamperl prepare.
Glameow and Stunky charged side by side at Combusken and Clamperl, Combusken took one deep breath and fired off one big fireball covering both of them. Both grunts were too stunned to even react properly causing both Pokémon to get hit and be knocked back on their backs.
"Clamperl, fire!" Shuichi noticed Clamperl was ready with a big whirlpool, Clamperl aimed and fired off the whirlpool. "Dodge it you two!" The grunts had finally recovered however their Pokémon hadn't, both Glameow and Stunky were already struggling to get up never mind jumping out of the way of the Whirlpool.
The big Whirlpool slammed into both Pokémon sweeping them both up in the currents, both Stunky and Glameow were knocked out cold after the current calmed down. "Wha-What is with this kid!" Both grunts were completely shocked and fear started to creep on their faces.
"L-Let's run!!" The grunts wanted to escape however Shuichi wasn't going to let them off that easy, "Eevee, block their path with Quick Attack!" Shuichi yelled as he threw Eevee's Pokéball.
Eevee came out of the Pokéball and ran past them leaving a white streak. Eevee turned to them and started growling at them, he's had experience with criminals thanks to J. The two grunts froze in their tracks and didn't move an inch.
"What's going on over here!" A voice suddenly shouted, Shuichi noted the voice sounded very familiar as he turned and smiled. "Hey Dad, I heard that you were looking for Team Galactic and look what I found," Shuichi told his father about Team Galactic.
"Oh? Well isn't that interesting? I'd love to have a chat with them." Enki looked back at the two Team Galactic grunts with a small smile. He also noticed Professor Rowan was here and quickly put two and two together.
Professor Rowan looked at Shuichi and smiled, it was no wonder he could've beaten Roark with those two special moves.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
AnAccountant
AnAccountant Did someone give me a shout-out? Yesterday I got 130 collections when the normal is around 15 daily.
If someone did give me a shout-out I'd love to also give them a shoutout back!
Weekly Power Status
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