"You see, we have a livraison, a delivery, that needs to be brought in. It cannot do it because of the Pokémon that have made themselves at home in our back area. A few Pokémon are making it difficult for us to receive our order, so you can see our problème," Anaïs explained as we walked through the kitchen towards the back.
"Okay, I can understand that. But why not call the Rangers or post it as a Task to ensure a Trainer comes in quickly to take care of it?" I asked.
"Parce que it would be too expensive for us. The Rangers charge for anything that happens in the cities. We cannot afford to pay a Trainer for a task. But you are a Trainer and you cannot pay your bill. Je t'aide, tu m'aides. I help you, you help me," she said with a strained smile.
"Sure, sure, mutual help," I said with uncertainty. It was definitely shady, but I couldn't afford the bill. "Alright, let's see how this goes."
We reached the door that led to the back area, where the loading dock was located. Anaïs opened the door and ushered me in. I walked through and saw-.
*SLAM*
The door slammed shut behind me, and I heard Anaïs say, "Knock once you are done. I'll open the door."
"What do you mean you'll open the door!" I shouted, shaking the handle. She had locked it from the inside, and now I was stuck. "Anaïs, open the door!"
I banged on the door several times, but I heard nothing. Well, that was a lie. I heard breathing, but it wasn't from the door. I turned around and saw what the problem was. It was supposed to be a few Pokémon, so it would be great training for Inkay.
"Motherfu-," I uttered before freezing.
It wasn't a few Pokémon. She had damn near a whole ass party. From what I could see, there were several Litleo and Rattata rummaging through the dumpster, three Pansage on the edge of the roof and with food in their hands, four Fletchling circling overhead, and, to lead them, a round crocodile that was lazily chomping down on some food. It wasn't a normal shade of red. Instead, it was more of a pinkish maroon. The leader of this troupe was one of the Paldean starters, and a fucking shiny.
I looked at my phone only to see I had zero signal.
Every single Pokémon froze in place as we stared at each other. One of the Pansage dropped what looked to be a piece of cake onto the Fuecoco's face. A Litleo nervously looked back and forth between their leader and me. There were fourteen Pokémon, most of whom looked to be malnourished. I could see the bones poking through the mangy fur of every single Litleo and Rattata. The Fletchling all seemed to have trouble maintaining their position in the air. Each Pansage seemed to have a dull coat of fur, and their tufts of green foliage looked like they were wilting. The Fuecoco seemed to be the only one that was in decent condition.
"Fuec, Fue!" the Fuecoco cried out before sending a few Embers our way.
"Oh, shit," I said before running out of the way. Inkay had the good sense of also dodging, though he wasn't the one Fuecoco was aiming for. "Disable!" I cried out while running and dodging the small blasts of flames. Thankfully, Fuecoco didn't seem to have a good mastery of the move. Inkay successfully shut down Fuecoco's attack, causing it to growl out.
The rest of the Pokémon sprang into action, pitifully charging and trying to muster enough energy to make their attacks useful. The Pansage were closest to me. One swung towards me as its claws glowed a dull white. Another spat out seeds that, in all honesty, seemed to be very weak. The third began to clap and cheer, trying to offer a Helping Hand. I dodged the first monkey, grabbing it by its arms mid-air so it wouldn't be able to hit me with the attack. I used its body as cover for the Bullet Seeds, which landed with a thwack and caused my impromptu shield to cry in pain.
While I was taking care of those, I saw Inkay take care of the rest by himself. While they had the numbers advantage, they were extremely weak. Inkay zoomed between them and landed Pecks and Tackles, occasionally using Hypnosis to reduce the numbers. Once I took care of the Pansage, Fuecoco decided to involve itself.
Fuecoco jumped forward, attempting to Tackle me. When I dodged that, the round crocodile opened its jaws and belted out a noisy Round. It hit and caused me to hold my head in pain, but it didn't totally incapacitate me.
"Inkay, Hypnosis!" I yelled out, causing my squiddy partner to immediately float over and send out a wave of Psychic rings. The Fuecoco fell asleep, causing the few Pokémon standing to stop in surprise. They kept glancing at each other and at Fuecoco, indecision clear on their faces.
I stopped for a few moments to clear my head of the pain, which could have been a lot worse. The Fuecoco wasn't very strong, but it was clearly in better health than the rest.
"Ka, In Ink Ka!" Inkay snarled out with disdain. All the Pokémon that were still awake tensed up. Inkay kept berating them, and I saw the guilt and shame on their faces. I sighed, getting Inkay's attention.
"They're struggling to find food, dude," I said. Inkay stared at me, his angry expression looking more adorable than anything. "Just like you when you were hunting me as prey."
Inkay's eyes widened. He then looked around and paid attention to the condition of our attackers. He then turned to the sleeping Fire-type, who was much better fed. My starter looked at me, understanding and righteous fury blazing in his eyes. "Yeah, this little shit was forcing everyone to eat less so he could have the good food they found."
I turned to the group. "Did you choose to join this croc?"
They stayed silent, but I already knew the answer. "Inkay? Ink In, Ay Inkay."
I still couldn't fully understand him, but the softness in his tone meant he didn't see them as enemies. However, the Fuecoco woke up and immediately started the battle again. "Coco!"
Inkay was absolutely livid about whatever it said. His eyes glowed light purple, and a ray of erratic Psychic energy shot at Fuecoco. The Psybeam blasted it into the wall, giving Inkay time to charge in with a Peck. He kept Pecking at the round Pokémon until it bled, at which point I called him off. I pulled out a Pokéball and paused. I knew it would be easier to catch it, but Serena's words rang out in my head.
I wanted this Fuecoco, I couldn't deny that. But even if the catch was successful, it would probably never actually want to join me.
Fuecoco struggled to stand up. It looked around and barked out some sort of response. The other Pokémon squirmed around, clearly hesitating to do something. Fuecoco growled again. It was an obvious message: she was in charge of them.
Fuecoco then turned back towards Inkay, saying something I couldn't understand. He immediately charged up a Peck. One of the Fletchling immediately dove in to intercept the attack. The fear in their eyes told me everything I needed to know as Fuecoco just smiled and charged an Ember.
"Wait!" I shouted out, causing everyone to pause. The Embers in Fuecoco's mouth died down while the incoming bird swerved up in relief. Inkay grumbled out something but dispersed the Flying-type energy he had accumulated. "Do all of you really want to be led by this lazy little shit?"
"Coco!" the mostly-head croc growled out, but I ignored it. I kept my attention on the rest of the merry band of victims. They all looked at each other nervously before giving me a hesitant nod. At that, the Fire-type smirked at me as if it had won.
"Do all of you Litleo and Rattata want to scavenge through the dumpster just to eat scraps?" I asked, not receiving a response.
"Do the four of you birds want to be forced to fly and keep watch even though you're all exhausted?" I asked the barely hovering Fletchling. They didn't respond verbally, but I could see a shift in their eyes as they processed my question.
"Do each of you want to spend time feeding this smug fuck whatever and whenever you're told to?" I turned to the three Pansage. They seemed to contemplate my question before looking at me with eyes that told me they didn't want to continue but most likely would.
I finally turned to the Fuecoco, whose eyes burned with annoyance and hate. "Fuecoco," she cried out before sending a round of Embers at the three Pansage. This caused them to cry out and dash towards Inkay and me.