Pokèmon Spectrum (An Original Journey Fic) - Weekly Short Story "Movie Time", June 8th 2017 (2024)

Chapter 29:
Winning Is No Breezeville!
Previously on Pokemon Spectrum… Jacob and friends arrived in Breezeville City for Russo to challenge the gym and Kyoko to challenge the Battle Ring. Upon arrival, they met the Gym Leader, Skye, and the Battle Ring Ringmaster, Wanda. They also reunited with Kyoko’s childhood friend, Izzy, as well as Hareta, the Pokemon Reporter Jacob and the others met in Kimpier City. Now, Russo has begun his match against Skye and has his eyes set on his second badge!​

Skye tossed her Pokeball into the air, releasing a small, purple, balloon-like Pokemon into the air as Russo sent forth his Metang.

Jacob took out his Pokedex and quickly scanned Skye’s Pokemon.

“Drifloon, the Balloon Pokemon. Drifloon expand or shrink their bodies depending on their emotions,” the Pokedex began.

“Aw, it’s so cute,” Jacob replied, smiling to Aipom on his lap.

“Some Drifloon pretend to be actual balloons to lure children into grabbing ahold of them, so it can then carry them off into the afterlife,” the Pokedex finished, hoping to shatter Jacob’s spirits and ambition to reuse the Pokedex again.

Jacob gulped and slowly shut his Pokedex, then remained silent in his seat as Russo got to work on his match.

“Metang, use Iron Head,” Russo began.

Metang coated itself in a metallic, grey aura and zoomed forward, aiming for Drifloon.

Skye spoke as calm as the breeze, “Use Constrict and throw it off course.”

Drifloon quickly dodged Metang’s attack by ducking underneath it. It then grabbed ahold of Metang’s arms with its string-like hands and tossed Metang into the air.

Metang floated shakily in the sky as it looked around, unaware at the strength of the small, Balloon Pokemon.

“Damn, that thing is a lot stronger than it looks. Ok Metang, use Confusion and send it to the ground,” Russo re-ordered.

Metang nodded and looked down towards Drifloon, who had disappeared from sight. It looked around for its target, but was unaware it was hiding atop its head.

“Use Ominous Wind,” Skye ordered.

Drifloon puffed its body full of a ghostly wind before unleashing it through its yellow x-like mouth, knocking Metang onto the ground.

Metang looked up shakily, feeling the effects of the super-effective attack. It hadn’t expected its opponent to have already moved above it.

“Dammit, how the hell can it move so fast,” Russo yelled aloud, bringing attention to himself.

Metang looked over worriedly as Drifloon appeared out of nowhere again!

“Use Shadow Ball,” Skye finished.

Drifloon formed a shadowy glob of black and purple energy that immediately exploded on Metang, due to the close proximity of the Pokemon.

Metang fell to the ground, knocked out from the overwhelming force of Skye’s Drifloon.

“Flooooon,” Drifloon puffed innocently as it floated back towards Skye for a congratulatory head-pat.

Russo lowered his head and sighed, disappointed at the loss of his most powerful Pokemon right off the bat. He returned Metang to its Pokeball silently and thought to himself on how he’d proceed. “I could use Totodile’s Ice Fang… or Larvesta’s String Shot to slow it down. Hoppip is no use since it’s too hyperactive and also a grass type. What do I do,” he wondered?

“I wonder why Russo used Metang right of the bat, especially against Drifloon, who has a clear advantage over it due to type,” Aries spoke to the other spectators.

“I think he underestimated the power of her Drifloon, which is something a challenger must never do to a Gym Leader,” Arya replied.

“He’s not as well thought as I remember from Kimpier City. Is he feeling alright,” Hareta asked?

“He’s been on a losing streak against other opponents, and has been moody since we left Seavaille Town,” Jacob replied.

“He keeps saying he’s fine, but I doubt he’s telling the truth,” Aries added.

“Well, he needs to get his head out of the clouds if he wants to beat Skye. She might look bland n’ unable to strike with pure force, but her Pokemon are capable of packin’ a punch if a trainer can’t keep ‘em out of the air,” Wanda informed.

Russo quickly tossed his second Pokeball into the air, releasing Totodile onto the field.

Totodile snapped its jaws at Drifloon, hoping to strike some fear into its opponent.

Drifloon looked at Totodile, then hovered over slowly.

Totodile tensed up, waiting for Drifloon to react.

“Use Ice Fang,” Russo ordered.

Totodile took advantage of Drifloon moving closer and opened its mouth to take an icy bite out of its opponent.

“Dodge, then use Disable,” Skye commanded.

Drifloon condensed its body into a smaller balloon and dodged Totodile’s attack. It then looked Totodile in the eye before puffing forth a red X from its mouth that merged itself with Totodile.

Totodile looked around, unsure of what Drifloon had done for a counter attack.

Russo grit his teeth and stomped his foot on the ground out of frustration, “Dammit!”

Skye paused and looked at Russo. Her once cheerful expression about their battle had instantly faded. Her goal of playing with her challenger was now to teach him a lesson.

“So, with Disable, that means Totodile can’t use Ice Fang,” Jacob asked?

“Correct, which means Russo’s ace move is now out of commission until he finds a way to defeat Drifloon,” Arya confirmed. She crossed her arms and glared at Russo angrily. “However, I really don’t appreciate his attitude.”

“I thought he was all happy before,” Aries exclaimed!

“It was all clearly a rouse,” Kyoko informed.

“Use Bite back to back,” Russo shouted angrily.

Totodile felt as though its trainer wasn’t battling in the right frame of mind. It sighed and turned to Drifloon, then opened its mouth wide for a simple chomp.

Drifloon easily constricted its body and floated out of Totodile’s way. It then proceeded to dodge each attack from Totodile, managing to tire it out.

Totodile breathed heavily, feeling the toll of its rapid fire of attacks draining its stamina.

Russo clutched his head angrily, trying to find a way to defeat Drifloon, but the only thoughts that filled his mind were anger with his constant defeats from Arya, Declan, and now Skye.

“You are not going to win if you’re constantly worrying about victory or loss. If you continue to act out, I will end the battle and not accept a rematch until you’ve proved you understand the issue at hand,” Skye shouted to Russo as a breeze rushed through the arena.

Russo looked up at Skye, with tears in his eyes. “No! You can’t do that,” he shouted back!

“He’s crying,” Jacob whispered to Aipom? He was shocked to see Russo, of all people, to be having a tantrum.

“Drifloon, use Ominous Wind,” Skye spoke without a care.

Drifloon crossed, then uncrossed its arms and unleashed a current of purple and black wind that gushed past Totodile, knocking it backwards and onto the ground where it had promptly been knocked out. Drifloon expanded its body angrily. “Floon,” it puffed, mimicking its trainer’s emotions.

Russo stared at Totodile. Thoughts of a tall boy filled Russo’s mind, but he quickly shook the thought from his mind. “No…. NO,” he muttered to himself. He quickly returned Totodile to its Pokeball, then tossed out Larvesta as his last Pokemon.

Larvesta emerged from its Pokeball, ready to battle. As it turned to look at its trainer, it noticed that he was clearly not alright.

Skye remained silent. She was disappointed that Russo was letting the state of the battle affect him so seriously. She had never had a challenger throw such a harsh temper from the battle not going their way. She nodded to her Drifloon, signaling for the Balloon Pokemon to end the battle swiftly.

Drifloon quickly rushed over and grabbed ahold of Larvesta before Russo could give a command.

Larvesta winced from the Drifloon’s surprisingly powerful grip, but accepted that it was going to be defeated if Russo didn’t act quickly.

Russo’s audience remained silent as they too knew he’d been defeated.

Drifloon then unleashed a wave of black and purple wind from its x-like mouth that gushed across Larvesta’s body, inflicting massive damage from attack’s proximity.

Russo fell to his knees silently as Larvesta hung in Drifloon’s grasp.

The referee held her hand into the air. “All three of the challenger’s Pokemon are unable to continue, therefore the match goes to Skye, the gym leader,” she announced promptly, hoping Russo would be a sane enough trainer to take his Pokemon for treatment at the Pokemon Center.

Russo looked up and noticed Drifloon had floated over to him. It gently placed Larvesta into Russo’s open hands before it floated back to his trainer.

Skye looked at Russo disgustedly. “A trainer to lets the frustration of a hard battle overtake him is not worthy of challenging me. Take your Pokemon to get healed up before you even consider speaking to me again,” she commanded harshly.

Jacob stood up to defend Russo, but was stopped when Arya grabbed ahold of his arm. She looked him in the eye and shook her head, knowing he’d understand that Russo needs to learn a lesson.

Russo stood up and gazed down at Larvesta. Tears were still streaming down his face and had begun to drip onto his defeated Pokemon.

Larvesta blinked weakly and looked up at its trainer. “Lar…” it chirped.

Russo looked away and quickly fled the Battle Ring with Larvesta in his arms. As he rushed through the street, onlookers wondered why he was in such a rush and in tears.

Jacob, Aries, and Kyoko stood up to head after him and make sure he was alright. “We’re gonna go check on him,” Jacob informed.

“You coming,” Aries asked Arya?

Arya shook her head, “I have a couple of errands to see to before I turn in for the night. You all make sure Russo returns to his normal self. I would never accept a rematch from him after what I just saw, until he changes his priorities.”

Jacob, Aries, and Kyoko nodded before heading out of the Battle Ring to find Russo before the afternoon sun was well below the horizon.

After the teens were out of sight, Arya turned to her fellow battle leaders and Hareta. “Now that they’re gone, I’m going to need your help.”

“What’s the issue,” Wanda asked?

“We believe Team Element is going to do something here in the city very soon,” Hareta replied.

“What sort of something,” Skye asked?

“We aren’t sure. Those kids stole a flash drive from them a while ago and let me borrow it. If I can find out what’s on it, perhaps it’ll tell us what we need to know,” Arya answered.

“You should take it to the police headquarters then. Officer Jenny has enough high-tech technology to scan it for you,” Skye suggested.

Wanda got to her feet and hopped the railing to Skye’s side. “We’ll go search the skies for any signs of danger. You both head for the Police Headquarters in the center of town,” Wanda ordered.

Arya and Hareta nodded in agreement before they parted ways with their allies. As they left Wanda and Skye, a small cargo plane hovered above the city, with its passengers waiting to set their plan in motion.

Jacob, Aries, and Kyoko entered the Pokemon Center as the sun began to coat the sky in an orangey-red hue.

Nurse Joy greeted them as they approached her desk. “Hello and welcome to my center. How can I help you trainers,” she asked cheerfully?

“We’re looking for a trainer named Russo. Has he passed through here,” Jacob asked worriedly as he clutched Aipom in his arms?

Nurse Joy’s cheerfulness turned worrisome. “Yes, he was here a few minutes ago to drop his Pokemon off for treatment. I’m not sure where he’s run off to though. Are you friends of his?”

“Yeah, he just got beat pretty badly in a gym match. You really have no idea where he could be,” Aries replied?

Nurse Joy nodded sadly, “I’m afraid so. His Pokemon were beat up pretty roughly, and should make a full recovery, but I’ve never seen a trainer as distraught as him.”

“What do you mean by distraught,” Jacob asked? He would have never guessed Russo’s tantrum was as serious as he had made it out to be.

“I’ve met tons of trainers that were beaten pretty badly by Skye, but nothing that a trainer wasn’t capable of comprehending. Russo’s eyes… they were filled with… so much hatred,” Nurse Joy replied.

“He hates Skye,” Aries wondered?

“No, hatred for himself. Like he couldn’t live with letting himself get defeated,” Nurse Joy clarified. “Would any of you be willing to look after his Pokemon and be around in the event something happens,” Nurse Joy asked?

“You two stay here. I’ll go look for him,” Jacob spoke to Aries and Kyoko.

“Where do you plan to find him,” Aries replied as Jacob darted for the door.

Jacob clutched a Pokeball in his hand as Aipom climbed atop his shoulder. “Rowlet can look from the skies! I’ll come back with him as soon as I can,” Jacob replied before taking off out the doors. He dashed through the streets, quickly looking and analyzing his surroundings for any sign of Russo. He skidded to a stop and tossed Rowlet’s Pokeball into the air.

Rowlet popped out of its Pokeball and landed on Jacob’s other shoulder. It cooed and nuzzled Jacob’s cheek, “Roowwlll”.

“I need you to go look for Russo for me. I know it’s kind of late, so be careful,” Jacob ordered.

Rowlet nodded and took to the skies as the sun’s hue grew a darker orange with the oncoming night.

Jacob continued running and search for Russo. After around ten minutes had passed, he came upon the outskirts of town and noticed the large hill they had descended to enter the city. He noticed a figure sitting atop it as the wind blew through their shaggy hair. “Russo?!” Jacob shouted, hoping it was him.

He was met with a loud groan and the sound of someone falling onto their back into the grass.

Jacob chuckled. “Yeah, that’s him,” he joked to Aipom. He began climbing up the hill, with Rowlet joining him upon reaching the top. He looked over at Russo and saw what Nurse Joy had meant.

Russo stared sadly at the city as it began lighting up for the night. His eyes were blank, and his clothes were ragged from the constant wind. Looked down at his badge case, where his Blaze Badge sat and mocked him. “I… I keep losing,” he groaned.

Jacob co*cked his head, “So what?”

Russo turned and looked at him. “What do you mean ‘so what’?”

“So what if you keep losing. You’re a trainer, it comes with the job. You don’t see me complaining whenever you beat me in a practice match, or when I lost my battle with Minnie in Seavaille,” Jacob replied.

“You don’t understand. I made a promise, and I was doing so great at keeping it until…”

“Until?”

“Until Declan,” Russo answered angrily, startling a flock of resting Pidgey in a nearby tree.

“You’re still mad about that?”

Russo gulped and turned his gaze back to the city. “He… he beat me when I clearly should have won. I don’t get it…”

Jacob continued looking at him silently. He crawled over and sat next to him. “You said you made a promise?”

Russo cringed as Jacob repeated those words to him. “I don’t want to talk-“

“Well talk about it anyways. You need to speak your mind instead of bottling things up,” Jacob replied, cutting him off.

Russo sighed. “As you know, Professor Oswald served as my parental guardian. When I was around four years old, my family disappeared. I haven’t seen, or heard from them since. I had a brother that was a couple years older than me, and my parents would constantly let us practice with their Pokemon. He’d always beat me, and no matter how hard I tried, I could never seem to figure out how to beat him. He told me I was only ever going to beat him by defeating every other trainer I came across. Once I’d have won enough battles, I’d finally be the stronger sibling.”

Jacob remained silent. He wanted to respond appropriately, but didn’t know exactly what to say.

Russo continued. “I haven’t seen or heard from them for fifteen years. Oswald said they dropped me off and went on a journey together, but felt I was far too young to be on the road.”

“So, they took your brother and not you? But, he was only a few years older than you.”

“I have no idea why, and I don’t care. I only care about proving to him that I’m stronger, and the only way to be stronger is to never lose. Oswald enrolled me in a trainer’s school once I was old enough hold my own in a match… and then I never lost a battle.”

“Not one battle?”

“Not. One. Match. The first battle I’ve lost since my brother left, was the match against Declan. Of course, I’ve lost and failed at capturing Pokemon, but not against trainers. Declan defeating me… ruined everything…”

“No it didn’t. I think you just aren’t able to accept it because you got so used to being the stronger one. That’s not how it’s always going to be when you’re on a journey. You’re constantly going to meet people on your skill level or stronger. The important thing is to just forget the difference skill and focus on your Pokemon,” Jacob replied cheerfully.

“That’s not happening,” Russo replied with a scoff.

Aipom and Rowlet sat beside the trainers and gazed off into the city, enthralled by the beauty of city lights.

In the center of town, Arya and Hareta entered the Breezeville Police Station and greeted Officer Jenny, who had already been briefed on the situation. Officer Jenny silently greeted and led the two girls to a control room in the back of the station.

Arya gripped the flash drive in her hands and stared intently at the massive computer monitors hanging on the wall. “You have cameras set up all around town,” she asked?

“It helps us to keep an eye on the citizens. We can distribute emergency signals and direct people more easily by keeping an eye on them from here,” Officer Jenny answered. She held her hand out for the flash drive, to which Arya cautiously handed over, then looked over the small device. “I can’t identify anything out of the ordinary. We’ll have our computer specialist have a look and scan it,” she replied, then handed over the device to her assistant.

The computer specialist, wearing a handy nameplate with “Rick” messily scribbled on it, took the device and looked it over as well. He sighed and wondered why a small drive would be so important to Team Element.

Hareta rested her hands in her trench coat pockets as she looked at each of the monitors on the wall. “There’s so many,” she said in awe.

“Well, this is a large city. We need to make sure we have an eye in every corner,” Office Jenny replied.

Hareta squinted at one of the monitors that depicted a picture of the outskirts of a corner of the airport. “How often do the helicopters fly,” she asked as she noted a dark black aircraft waiting far off in the sky.

Arya and Officer Jenny quickly shuffled over to look as Rick inserted the flash drive into their scanning device on the computer. “That Helicopter doesn’t belong to any companies that I’m aware of…” Officer Jenny informed worriedly. As she reached for one of her walkie talkies, the monitors quickly went out one by one, entering a static state!

Rick looked at his main monitor, horrified, as he watched a small, pixelated Bronzor appear and wipe the screen clear of any data. “They… This was a trap,” he exclaimed! He quickly typed on his keyboard to shut down the virus, but was met with a shock anytime he pressed a key. He stood up and ran to a nearby switch on the wall.

“What are you doing?! You can’t do a Power Purge right now,” Officer Jenny warned!

“What’s a Power Purge? Can it stop whatever is happening to your security program of the city,” Arya asked as she gripped her Absol’s Pokeball.

“A Power Purge is what’s used to shut off all electricity in the city immediately. It’s only used when the city needs a mass reset after a power outage, or in times when the city has been evacuated. If he shuts the power off and something happens, there’ll be no way to warn any of the citizens,” Officer Jenny replied.

Rick looked at his boss worriedly. “If we don’t shut the power off, our security program will be wiped for good. This can keep the virus from working until we can boot up our systems into a backed-up version, but we can’t do that if their program wipes everything on our computer clean!”

Officer Jenny bit her lip, having never been faced with a tough challenge before. She sighed and nodded to Rick.

“What if this is what they want though,” Arya suggested?

“It’s our only option,” Rick replied, looking back at his computer monitor fearfully.

“Just do it! We’ll handle what we can once it happens,” Hareta added in.

Officer Jenny quickly motioned for Arya and Hareta to exit the building. “You two need to go and head into the streets. Order the citizens to head for our airport terminals for lockdown protocols and have Wanda and Skye check on that helicopter.”

Hareta and Arya nodded, then quickly darted from the building as multiple station workers watched curiously, unaware off the situation at hand. Once they exited the building, Rick then quickly flipped the switch and sent the whole city instantly into darkness.

Up on the hill, Jacob and Russo’s attention was immediately drawn towards the now pitch black city. Aipom and Rowlet climbed onto Jacob’s shoulder as both he and Russo rose to their feet. “What’s going on,” Jacob asked, hoping Russo possibly knew the answer?

Russo peered into the sky and noticed the lights of a black aircraft descending from the clouds. “I’m not sure, but there is something coming out of the sky over by the airport,” he replied and pointed at the aircraft.

Jacob noticed what he was talking about. He then turned back to Russo and spoke to him more seriously than he had before. “Look, I know you losing all your battles is tough on you, but you need to stop acting like a child. Your Pokemon were extremely hurt, and you really offended trainers who have gone through much greater defeats than you. It’s okay to be mad, but shove it down until you can let it out and not be judged for it. Right now, there obviously is something wrong with the city and I want to go find out. You can stay here and mope if you want, or you can come with me and find out what the problem is. What’s your choice?”

Russo looked back at Jacob. He was used to his lighthearted and cheerful side, not this sudden change to a serious trainer who seemed to know more about journeying than he was willing to let on. He began to answer, but was interrupted as the ground beneath them began to crack and shake.

“How about I pick for you,” answered a familiar, earthy voice.

Jacob and Russo managed to regain their footing and looked to find a man dressed in a brown, leisure suit and dirt brown hair slicked upwards. They recognized him, but couldn’t place his name. Behind him, sat a Hippowdon releasing off an Earthquake attack, helping to further identify him except for his name.

The man waited for them to respond, but quickly grew impatient with their silence. “Did you hear me? I thought that was quite an entrance,” he scoffed.

“We recognize you, but I don’t think either of us really remember that well,” Jacob replied embarrassingly as Aipom and Rowlet nodded in agreement.

The man tsked. “I’m the Team Element Admin you humiliated back in Criss-Cross Cavern! Dierk?”

“OH,” Jacob and Russo exclaimed in unison. “Sounds really similar to dirt, because you look like you use ground types,” Jacob added. He paused for a moment before he realized what Dierk had said. “Wait! Team Element?! Arya was right when she told us, in the forest, that Team Element was lurking around these parts,” he exclaimed to Russo.

“What do you want,” Russo asked angrily. He stepped in front of Jacob and attempted to act like a shield.

Dierk rolled his eyes at the trainers. “We’re just here to pick up a package. However, I really got chewed out for letting you steal that drive… OH WAIT, no I didn’t. It honestly saved us the trouble of breaking in and shutting down the city’s security on our own.”

“So, you’re the one’s responsible for the city turning pitch black,” Jacob concluded angrily.

Dierk nodded snobbishly. “I’ll give our scientist, Tesla, credit for creating such a nice program. But now, my fellow admins and I have orders. Mine are truly the most special though, considering I wasn’t able to fulfil them back in the cavern.”

“And that is,” Russo asked?

Dierk laughed and snapped his fingers at his Hippowdon.

His Hippowdon quickly charged at the trainer and knocked them backwards, sending them rolling down the hill and into the hard, rocky terrain at the bottom.

“To kill anyone who interferes,” Dierk replied, gazing darkly down at his targets as they looked up at him painfully.