"So, let me get this straight. Not only did you catch the Deino every ranger in the Viridian Forest is looking for, but you also fought five Team Rocket gang members along with their ten or so Pokémon and came out alive?"
Looker had been working for the Interpol for a very long time now. He had come across all sorts of cases, and the death of a trainer at the hands of a criminal organization was nothing new to him.
Usually, he would not be assigned to this case, but the deceased was the son of a very high-profile person.
His team only had a few leads since no one knew much about Team Rocket's higher up, not even the grunts. Moreover, even with the help of gym trainers working under the gym leader of Viridian City, they were having a hard time tracking the said grunts.
So far, not even one of the grunts running around in Viridian Forest had been caught.
Just when his frustration was reaching levels that would make a Psyduck mad, he received a phone call from Nurse Joy of Pewter City telling him about a boy who had come across a group of grunts from Team Rocket.
Looker turned towards his trusted partner.
"Kadabra." The yellow fox standing beside him nodded its head, indicating the boy was speaking the truth.
"Ra."
The older man then turned to the Ralts sitting in front of her trainer protectively. She must have sensed that the Kadabra was trying to get a feel of the boy's mind. But too bad for the psychic fairy, her powers were not yet strong enough to stop his Pokémon.
"I didn't know the league allowed officers to read trainers' minds."
"We are not." Looker turned to the black-haired boy. "Kadabra is only sensing your surface thoughts, something which is natural for a powerful psychic but also allowed in investigations since it has no side effects on the mind."
Daemon nodded, but he was not too pleased about it. "Anything else you would like to know?"
"Did you find anything on those grunts that could be useful in the investigation?"
"You mean while I was running for my life, then fighting the said grunts who were trying to kill me and then fighting the dragon who wanted to bite my head off, I had the time to check if there was something useful for investigation?"
Looker clicked his tongue at the boy's sarcastic tone. "On the other hand, how are you doing?"
"Nurse Joy said I can leave the day after tomorrow."
"I mean mentally." Looker's words made the boy pause for a moment.
Daemon thought and thought and thought, until he finally spoke. "I don't feel anything." He looked at the older man. "Before you say anything, let me make it clear. They were after my life. I was taught in trainer school how to handle such a situation, and I did. Yes, my action led to their deaths; that woman's pierced face flashes across my eyes once in a while, but I feel nothing for them."
Looker sighed at those words. Was the boy putting up a brave front, or was he really fine like he said? He didn't know, but he did not want to push the topic too much onto the kid unless the boy got uncomfortable. So, he decided to change the topic to something equally important.
"The Deino you caught, it belonged to Justin Salvania."
"And?"
"The family would like to have it back."
Daemon frowned, but before he could speak, the pink-haired nurse interceded in the conversation.
"You don't have to." She shot the officer a glare before turning to the black-haired boy. "After Team Rocket destroyed the Pokeball to recapture Deino, it escaped. Which means, it is no one's property, but a wild Pokémon."
Nurse Joy knew the officer had the obligation of informing the boy about the option of returning the Pokémon, but he had failed to mention that Daemon could keep it as well. But she also knew why the older man had done so, and also knew it was better if she informed the boy about it, since trainers trusted Nurse Joy's more than even Officer Jennys, much less the Interpol.
"Daemon." Nurse Joy turned to the boy, her expression now serious; any semblance of a smile had disappeared. "Do you want to keep Deino?"
Pseudo-legendary.
It was a group of Pokémon so strong that they had to be classified in a different tier than the rest of the Pokémon population. And what type did the majority of these Pokémon have in common? Dragon-type.
A type so strong that even when they were weaker than fairy-types, they had been able to come on top in a battle through sheer grit and strength.
The battle between Diantha, the champion of Kalos and Cynthia, the champion of Sinnoh's Gardevoir and Garchomp, was still fresh in his mind.
In the last World Coronation Ceremony (WCC), which was a year ago, the Sinnoh Champion's Garchomp had tanked through Gardevoir's attacks and pummelled her to the ground in ways one could not even imagine. It made every trainer and professor around the globe question whether that damned dragon was even weak to fairy-type or not.
Now, he had a chance to train a Pokémon of similar calibre.
The black-haired boy thought for a second and then nodded. "Yes."
Why would he refuse? Having a pseudo-legendary on the team was a dream of every Pokémon trainer, but only a few were lucky enough to have one.
Nurse Joy sighed as she knew the answer already. "Then you need to understand a few things."
Daemon paid close attention to her words.
"This Deino is not ordinary. The three fang moves you saw were not from TMs but something it learned through training. Do you know what that means? This Deino is stronger than you give it credit for."
The moves a Pokémon can learn through TMs could also be taught to a Pokémon, but the time and training that went into it were unnecessarily absurd.
"According to you, Deino was fighting Smeargle when you defeated and captured it, right?" Nurse Joy asked, and when the boy nodded, she added. "You must have thought it was not as bad a fight, right?"
The boy nodded again. As strong as the dragon was, Ralts had been able to defeat it rather easily and in only a few [Moves].
The pink-haired nurse exhaled slowly, her expression firm yet edged with disbelief.
"You're mistaken."
She lifted her hand, three fingers held upright.
"Three days. That Deino had been battling for three entire days. It tore through countless Beedrill and Butterfree nests before you ever encountered it, all without proper rest or healing."
Daemon's eyes widened.
"…What?"
"Yes, surprised?" the nurse continued, her tone sharpening. "By the time you found it, the Deino was already at the brink of total exhaustion. Then you pushed it into another fight against Team Rocket when it had barely begun to recover from its injuries."
She paused, letting the weight of her words settle.
"And even that minimal recovery was enough for it to overwhelm trained opponents and later clash with your Ralts so violently that the poor psychic-type was left critically injured."
Daemon and Ralts exchanged a glance, their silence heavy with disbelief, as though the ground beneath their understanding had suddenly given way.
After the dragon-type was done feasting on those dead Pokémon, it had turned its attention towards them. The battle afterwards had left Ralts injured and drained; not only because she had to fight the dragon, but also because she had to use [Heal Pulse] to somewhat stabilize Daemon's dwindling life.
"Before it ever met its last trainer," the nurse continued, "that Deino had already been under the guidance of Drayden, Unova's Dragon Master. Its strength is not something you can casually measure." She folded her arms. "And you may assume its fury stemmed from its trainer's death. It didn't. That dragon never formed any real attachment; no Hydreigon so far had been noted to do so. What drove it, what defines it, is the instinct to battle, to dominate, to destroy."
Her words landed with a weight too heavy to crush a novice trainer.
"If you insist on keeping it, you must accept a harsh reality. The Deino will not obey you. Not now, maybe not ever. And your Ralts, talented as she is, lacks the power to confront it directly."
A brief pause followed.
"Tell me honestly, Daemon, do you truly believe a novice trainer can control something like that?" The nurse fell silent at last, studying the boy before her.
Daemon sat motionless, brow furrowed, the faint crease of conflict and unease etched deeply across his face.
"Ralts."
The small Psychic-type shifted in his lap, her red eyes flicking from Nurse Joy to her trainer. "Ra… Ralts."
Daemon glanced down at her and smiled faintly. "Yeah… I know."
He looked back at Nurse Joy, his expression calmer now, more thoughtful than defiant. "You're not wrong. A Deino isn't exactly something I'm prepared for." He exhaled softly, fingers absently brushing Ralts' head. "But that's kind of the point."
The room fell quiet.
"Chances like this don't show up twice," he continued. "If I walk away now, I'll always wonder if I could've handled it."
He lowered his gaze to Ralts.
"And I trust Alice. She's tougher than she looks."
His eyes lifted again, steady but no longer boastful. "You said that Deino was trained by Drayden, right? That's fine." A small, confident smile touched his lips. "Alice is trained by me."
He gently set Ralts on his shoulder.
"We'll figure it out."
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[Author's Note]:
[1]: Firstly, Deino will be joining the party. I decided to get this Pokémon early because it evolves VERY slowly.
[2] Also, what do you guys think of this: Instead of Charizard, how about an Infernape or Arcanine, as suggested by one of the viewers?
[3] Please comment your thoughts in any way I can improve this story, and write me a review.
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