Part 8: Incendiary Agent
("We need you- and you! To investigate Sinnoh for any possible shadow pokemon. Our one slightly unreliable source tells us that there were shadow pokemon here so get to it! Failure is not an option.")
Sinnoh Waters: S.S. Bayleef
"Land ho, fellas!" the captain said.
Raymond the Pyroar and Charlie the Gourgeist were standing on the deck, mostly bored. Along with a few other Pokemon, including Shady.
"I am seasick. Please hurry this up, cap." Raymond said. His normally calm voice was replaced with an annoyed tone.
The captain's head poked out of the window of the bridge. "Officer, you'll have to wait a few minutes. Up to 20, maybe."
"Ugggggh."
"Hey, lady with the cat ears!" Captain said.
Charlie turned around and looked at the captain, because she indeed did have cat ears despite being some animated pumpkin with an extra head. "Yeah?" Also, Charlie sounded slightly feline.
Captain grabbed his hat with a vine and started waving it around angrily. "Tell your friend to shut up!"
Charlie shrugged, if she could, then turned back to Raymond. "Hey, I think he told you to-"
"Yes, I heard." Raymond interrupted.
The gourgeist peered over the side of the boat, looking at her addled reflection. "Ray, how are you getting sick? It's just water. Water's great."
Raymond just plopped himself onto the deck. "Terribad. Cannot tolerate water." he coughed.
"Now you're just being silly, boyo!" Captain said.
Raymond glanced at the captain Bayleef, with a slight 'ugh'. "You're a grass type. You're a grass type. You are living plants."
Shady, who was wearing shades, was relaxing on a folding chair, silently listened to the conversation. "I'm not a grass type or a living plant, nor is the chef Luxray."
"Shut it, Shady. You're probably making me feel worse."
"Raymond…!" Charlie said; "It's just a few more minutes."
"That's REAL assuring, Charlie. That reminds me of the part where I take the ferry back to Kalos!" He snorted. "Should've brung Erin for this instead."
Charlie's happy demeanor waned a bit. "Ray… you know both Erin and Xian are in the hospital, right?"
"Nope."
"LISTEN, Officer! You may be a part of the law but you should start acting more mature!" Captain shouted.
Shady scratched his head and fixed his beret, noticing the chef walk up next to him. "Think he'll last for the next 18 minutes?" he said.
"Doubt it."
"Think they'll be the most traumatic minutes of his life?"
"Oh yeah, definitely." the chef chuckled a bit.
-18 Minutes Later-
(Wait, they're still unpacking the boat, docking, weighing anchor, and disembarking and all that, fast forward some more.)
-9 Minutes Later-
Raymond was taking several deep breaths to calm himself down. "Haaah. Okay. We're... *huff* ...in Slateport City, right?"
"We're in Sinnoh." Charlie said. "In... I don't know where the heck we are either."
Raymond frowned some more. "Do not care. I am just happy to get off that wretched boat."
"Hey…" Shady said. "I think that guy is going to bump into you, just like in the last episode."
Charlie looked at Shady with a confused expression. "What was that?"
Shady shrugged, acting like that was natural. "Errr... forgettabout it."
Raymond moved a few steps left, and an Infernape ran into Charlie. "Ow! Watch where you're going! I'm gonna have to fine you!"
"Fine me? You ran into me, and you're not a police officer, I am!" Charlie said, who then took like 30 seconds to stand up.
The Infernape just shrugged and ran away. Shady who was nearby, gave a slight chuckle.
An Empoleon ran up to the officers. "Hey!" she said. "Where the monkey that stole my hat!?"
"Uhh… that way." Raymond pointed at the direction of the Infernape. "Though he wasn't carrying a hat, he was carrying a sock."
"Ugh! What's with that idiot? He stole my hat!" the Empoleon shouted.
Raymond looked at the Infernape, who was still running away. "Don't worry, madam, i'll catch him!" He sprinted after the Infernape.
"...so i'm guessing your name is Dawn?" Charlie asked.
The Empoleon's eyes lit up a bit. "Yeah, how'd you get my name?"
"Because Professor Rowan has one assistant with a sock hat. Oh, and I read the one tiny name tag on your 'hat'." Charlie said humorously.
Dawn sighed. "Why does everyone call it a sock?"
Meanwhile…
"Got you now!" Raymond pounced on the Infernape.
"Ow, watch it! Do I have to fine you some more?" the Infernape said.
Raymond let the Infernape go. "Alright, boy. Why'd you steal the soc- *er-hem* hat."
"She bumped into me and she didn't pay the fine that I gave her so I had to fine her somehow!"
Raymond shook his head slowly. "You are ridiculous."
The Infernape sighed, putting his head down. "Alright... i'll give the sock hat back."
"One more thing," Raymond said. "What's your name?"
"I'm-"
"Barry, isn't it?"
"Uhh… how'd you get that?"
"I just did."
-static-
"Hey, you know what we should do right now?" Barry said.
"Go home and relax because that will make me feel better?" Dawn replied.
"No, let's have a battle!"
Raymond shook his head. "No. I am really not in the mood."
"Battle time!" Barry said, as he probably didn't hear that response.
[Insert Rival Battle Music Here, but no cool transition into a turn-based battle]
"NO!"
[Cut Rival Battle Music]
Raymond sighed a little angrily. "Listen, we're just looking for... I can't remember crap."
"We're looking for Ever Grande City." Charlie said.
Dawn walked forward. "Sure thing!" She pulled out a map and gave the officers the fastest way(if possible) to Ever Grande City.
While leaving out the possibility of random encounter!
-1 Hour Later, Somewhere Else-
"One macaroon; yeah, that one." Shady paid the cashier a pokecoin, and got handed a red macaroon.
Suddenly, a strange dimensional rift appeared in the air near Shady. "Uhhhhhhhhhh…"
A small orange hand came out of the portal/rift/thing, and made a waving motion.
Shady kept staring at the rift in confusion, when the hand made a peace sign, and then poked Shady's eyes with them. "Ow!" Then it grabbed the macaroon and darted back into the dimensional rift, which closed.
Shady rubbed his eyes, then looked at his empty hand. "My macaroon…"
----------
"Still seasick, Raymond?" Charlie said.
Raymond rolled his eyes. "A little. Let's just get this over with."
The two officers were walking on a route to Ever Grande City. Without a map of course.
Raymond stepped forward, into the line of sight of a Plusle. "Hey! You walked in front of me, so you gotta fight now!"
Charlie shook her head. "Is this going to happen every ten steps we take?"
"Probably. It's going to be terrible." Raymond tried ignoring the Plusle, but he walked in front of him.
"Hey! You're supposed to battle me!"
Charlie thought for a second. "Hey, I think that if you keep walking, he'll give up!"
Raymond considered that. "Really? I guess that should work." He walked forward, knocking over the Plusle and skipping the fight.
Charlie followed right behind Raymond.
The plusle, really sad just knelt to the ground and started to weep dramatically. "Noooooooo!!! Expee waste!!!"
Unfortunately that wasn't it. After a few more seconds of walking, there was a road, full of pokemon looking forward for some reason.
"Hey Raymond, I think they're going to challenge us to a battle if we walk in front of them."
"YES, Charlie. I think I understand that." Raymond said angrily. "Okay, so all we gotta go... is run as fast as we can to prevent their death stares from freezing us in place!"
Charlie gave Raymond a confused look. "Death stares?"
Raymond broke into a run without answering. "Just run!" Charlie ran after him.
"Hey, I challenge you to a battle!" They ignored it. They ignored all of the expee.
They ran for a good long while. Would've been better if they had a bike.
Though it worked out in the end, all the people asking for battles blurred together, and the officers reached Ever Grande City.
"Oh cool, this place is big, just like in Lumiose!" Charlie exclaimed.
Raymond didn't seem to care that much, though. "Let's just go."
He just went to find the police station. Charlie reluctantly followed him.
"Here it is." They arrived at the police station in only a few steps.
"Are they closed or something?" Charlie said. "Try knocking."
Raymond knocked on the door. No response. He knocked on it some more, which would presumably annoy anyone inside the station.
A muffled voice was heard. "Heyhey, keep it down! We don't want anyone to hear us!"
"Eheheheheh… this'll be fun.
"Shut it, shut it! Get rid of those idiots already! The rest of us will escape through this teleport. Rendezvous at the meeting place, got it!?"
"Roger, boss." A psychic pulse was released in the station.
Raymond banged on the door. "Hey! Who's there!"
"Let me check." Charlie walked through the door, then came back out. "Ehh, nevermind."
Raymond banged on the door some more, then broke it down. "Alright who's there!?"
There was a Houndoom in the dark, unlit station. He slowly turned his head towards Raymond and Charlie. "Hello, meat."
"You're a shadow pokemon, aren't you!?" Raymond demanded.
The Houndoom laughed evilly. "You want to know, guess i'd better show you!" He pulsed with a dark aura, then shot a bright purple light into the sky, causing a flashing light to rain everywhere outside.
"Charlie, go hide somewhere. I'll deal with this hooligan." Raymond said.
"Yeah, go. After that i'll just brutally kill your stupid friend." The shadow Houndoom said with a wicked smile.
Charlie shook her head. "What? But he looks really dangerous!"
Raymond shoved Charlie a little. "He's extremely dangerous to you. I can take care of him just fine."
Without any further words, Charlie just ran into the dark police station, staying away from the flashing lights.
"Right then… Let's go, Meat!"