Author's Note: I'm sorry this chapter is late! I've been so busy at work lately that I ended up missing the date. I'll try to be more careful from now on. Thanks to Sebazu for reminding me.
Kalini, Giovanni, and I stood beside the Olympic-size swimming pool he had in his resort because of course, the Restaurant Royale had an Olympic-size swimming pool. We were watching a black and white shape blur through the water, a tiny blue shape buzzing around it.
"How fast are they going?" I asked Kalini.
"About 40 knots or so," he said, looking down at the computer being used to measure them.
"Sounds about right," I mumbled.
"Does it?" Giovanni looked at me skeptically. "While Mudkip is clearly holding back, the average Killer Whale is said to reach top speeds of 30 knots. She has none of the strength of her larger 'cousins', her being faster doesn't make sense."
"It does in this wacky comic book world," I said with a shrug. "She's smaller, so she's faster. Or maybe it's the fact she still has arms and legs to swim with. Besides, we're still learning how she was changed in the wake of her alteration. We should count ourselves lucky she still eats plants."
"Actually, she doesn't," Kalini looked up at me, chagrined.
"What?" I stared at him. "We had French Fries yesterday!"
"Yeah… and she was throwing up in the bathroom later. Rubbing a large whale woman on the back as she blows chunks was a weird end to the evening let me tell you," he mumbled.
"Wha-" I stared at him horrified. "I-I didn't-"
"You were training, you couldn't have known," Kalini said kindly. He sighed. "The wahine is trying her best to feel normal. But she's not the same as she once was."
God. I hadn't even thought of that. I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "I asked her if we needed to get specific food for her."
"Well, consider this a wake-up call," Giovanni chuckled.
I gave him a glare, then turned back to the pool. "Grace, Mudkip, pop back up for a bit!"
"Kip!"
Mudkip popped out of the water like a rocket, landing gently on my shoulder. Grace swam up to the edge and climbed up the ladder. I took a hard look at her. She was wearing a purple 'short Jane' wetsuit made just for her. While she may not have needed it as much, considering she was basically a Killer Whale in the relatively warm waters of the pool, but we'd unanimously agreed that swimming nude was not going to happen.
"Why'd you call me up?" Grace was grinning at me. There was an energy around her like she'd gotten jazzed on coffee recently. "It's only been a couple of minutes!"
"You've been swimming for twenty minutes," I said.
Her grin fell a bit, surprise in her eyes. "Really!? I'm not even tired."
"Superhuman. The key there being 'super'," I looked up at her, then at Giovanni.
"He's right," Giovanni said with that characteristic confidence. "I must say, even after seeing your absolutely stunning form in person, I couldn't have expected you'd be this fantastically powerful."
She blushed, which was weird but also cute. "Well, Killer Whales can do a lot more…"
"I have been told they spend most of their time in the ocean, so I assume they have practice at such things. In your case, we have yet to find your limits," Giovanni pointed out. "Take pride in your power."
"...Kind of hard to do, when you look like I do," Grace said sadly.
"You look powerful. Predatory."
Grace didn't seem convinced. Giovanni shrugged, letting it go.
"Whatever else, we should get back to finding your limits," I said. "For the time being."
"I'm afraid I cannot stay and watch," Giovanni sighed. "While I'm sure you've enjoyed having me at your beck and call, I am quite the busy man. Gentlemen. Lady. Kahu. Have a pleasant evening."
With that not so slight dig at me, he spun on his heel and left, chuckling lightly the whole way.
"Man. That guy doesn't like you," Kalini said to me.
"Weirdly, I think he does?" I said with a frown. "He just can't help making fun of people."
"How do you know Giovanni, anyways?" Grace asked me curiously.
"We walk in similar circles."
"He's a multi-millionaire who came out of nowhere, how do you guys walk in similar circles?" Grace asked me curiously, cocking her black and white head to the right.
"Well, for one thing, I'm technically also a multi-millionaire who came out of nowhere. That aside, we both have Pokemon," while Grace blinked at that revelation, I continued. "Also, what the hell is Giovanni's reputation on the islands?"
"Well, he's known as a couple things," Kalini said. "He's reclusive, but he's gotten a rep. Genius, millionaire, playboy, philanthropist, that kinda thing."
Before I could facepalm at that, Grace continued. "He's also got a bad rep. Lots of Islanders aren't a fan of him. His restaurant was called an eyesore when it was first put up. And tons of people don't like how expensive his 'medical miracles' are," Grace scratched her chin a bit. "Still. He does pay a lot of money to the right kinds of charities. Starting to find that more suspicious now."
"He's not on the up and up," I shrugged. "But he's also on our side. I don't like him personally or morally. None of us have to though. We know he's helping us in a war against way worse people. Literal monsters."
"The enemy of my enemy?" Grace asked.
"More like, joining a tiger to fight a dragon," I sighed. "Anyways. Mudkip, let's get to work practicing those combos Giovanni taught us. I'll get in for a swim while I'm at it."
"You sure you ain't trying to play in the pool?" Kalini teased. "Cause it's kinda hot today…"
"I mean," Grace looked around, an Orca smile growing. "It is a nice pool. And we do have a couple minutes."
I looked between them, then at Mudkip. He grinned.
"Kip!"
"..."
So yeah. A training session ended up turning into us goofballs splashing around in a giant swimming pool. Sue me, you would have done the same.
Tyrunt and I were later roaming around the jungle. The little guy had gotten antsy. So we decided to do something he'd been asking me to do with him for weeks. He prowled through the brush, looking around with predatory eyes, a small smile as we sped through the brush. I followed after him, keeping pace as best I could.
And behind us, a grumpy psychic followed.
"This is ridiculous," Alakazam grumbled, floating over the ground at high speed. "We are civilized beings. This is why supermarkets were made!"
"Well, the little guy wants to hunt for his food today," I panted, still following.
"Tyrunt!" he called, still hot on the scent.
"I wish I didn't have to come along for this barbaric enterprise," Alakazam grumbled again.
"Yeah, sorry. Kinda need you to make sure no one finds us. A tiny dinosaur hunting in the jungle is kinda out there. Worse, I'm hunting without a license."
"I do not like your sense of humor on the best of days," Alakazam floated past me. "By the way, the closest one is-"
"Ty!"
"Don't!"
We stopped to glare at him.
"What?"
"Dude, I don't even hunt and I know the whole point is the challenge."
"Tyrunt!"
"Where's the challenge if you just psychically find them?"
"Oh, my apologies. Please, continue to let the apex predator with superhuman senses and powers complete his fairhunt."
"Tyrunt."
"One day you need to learn the difference between sarcasm and compliments."
"Runt!"
Before we could continue the talk, Tyrunt took a deep sniff. He spun around, eyes wide. "Ruuuuunt."
We stayed quiet as he prowled forward. I followed quietly, watching him.
Soon, the jungle was replaced with a field. A field with feral pigs roaming back and forth in the tall grass. Tyrunt entered the grass, while Alakazam and I watched from the trees.
The pigs were big, about the size of a very large dog, and were rooting at the bottom of several trees. I watched silently as the tall grass shifted. The wind was moving in the direction of Tyrunt. One of the pigs seemed to notice something. It looked around, curiously.
For a moment, the sound of pigs grunting and grumbling stopped.
And Tyrunt struck.
It was like seeing a scene from the prehistoric days in miniature. A T-Rex rushing from the trees after prey larger than it. The pigs froze for a mere second at the sight of the silent predator before they spun around to run.
Tyrunt leaped towards one, landing on it's back, his jaws slicing just behind it's head. I'm sure if he had been a regular animal, the pig could have used it's bulk to fight back. Instead, Tyrunt twisted his head, and snapped the pigs spine. The animal fell to the ground. Tyrunt stood atop his prey, letting it go to roar out to the sky.
"Barbaric," Alakazam sighed.
"Well, pigs are an invasive species in Hawaii," I noted, watching calmly as Tyrunt started to dig in. "So this is technically helping. Besides, he's hungry, and I'm tired of buying eighty pounds of meat for him."
"Well, he had best finish his meal fast," Alakazam pointed out. "You all have a patrol soon."
I nodded, not taking my eyes off Tyrunt. He seemed better. For a prideful Pokemon like him, it took a lot to recover from a loss. He was also the good kind of proud/arrogant. You know. The kind where he had a massive amount of confidence, but also worked his ass off to be worthy of that confidence. This hunting trip was a good example of that. He was trying to get himself back into the world, into the fight.
I had to admire him for that. People who are arrogant should at least work their asses off to back it up. Tyrunt knew he had lost. And now he was going to push himself to keep it from happening again.
For now, we'd need to get back into the fray. Time to terrorize the Hawaiian nightlife again.
In a street just outside a nightclub in Honolulu, two morons were having a fight.
"He started it-"
"Fuck that man, you were macking on my girl!"
"Screw you haole, yer girl was coming for a real man!"
"Fu-"
I pushed the two idiots apart. "I don't give a shit who started this idiocy, I'll knock both your asses out!"
"Gurdurr!" he raised his I-Beam menacingly. Tyrunt was chuckling as he looked around, while Mudkip was looking around curiously at the bright lights around us.
The Hawaiian and tourist fighting eyed us warily. Their 'boys' were backing away. The two idiots were still ready to brawl, if only so they wouldn't look weak.
"You touch me and I'll sue you!" the tourist yelled.
"That ain't how it works," I stepped up to him. His eyes widened as he seemed to realize I was really in front of him. Like this was all an act right up until I'd gone against the script. "You shut the fuck up, go enjoy yourself with your girl, and stop getting mad at stupid shit. I'm not your waiter. I don't care if you sue me. I'll beat you and his," I looked over at the Hawaiian guy. "Asses if you keep causing a ruckus. And that goes for everyone!" I called out, looking around. "There isn't going to be a fight today! But if you try and make one, we're joining in!"
That did it. The crowd began to disperse, though a couple of people were taking photos incessantly. I watched the tourist guy huff, glaring at me. I cocked my head to the side. He scuttled off, followed by a girl who couldn't be more impressed by him. The Hawaiian guy disappeared as well.
And me and my Pokemon went back to work.
Some guy was mugging a woman in the dark. Then the dark raised it's tendrils around him.
"What the- DIOS MIO NOOOOO!"
"Mimikyu!"
The woman stared, dumbfounded, as her attacker disappeared into the shadows. I waited for a bit before a tiny Pokemon dressed like Green Lantern showed up in front of me. As did the mugger. He stared up at me while the shadows faded away.
"T-The dark place. Where the gods have long since died-" he stammered.
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, share it with your Tumblr blog. Mimikyu?"
A wooden tail smacked him in the head with enough force to knock him into a brief peaceful sleep.
"Good girl."
She bounced happily, pleased as punch at the praise. I lifted her into a hug as we moved on.
I was walking down an alleyway, thinking. Not to myself, but at Alakazam.
"We're doing well, I think," I panned my eyes up to look at him. The original badass Psychic was up top on the nearest roof, keeping all of us in touch through our minds. "Been taking out plenty of dummies. Who would have thought Hawaii had this much crime?"
"We are specifically hunting these criminals. My telepathy and modern communications technology in combination with Kalini's knowledge is making crime more obvious to us. Easier to find the needle in a haystack when you have a magnet."
"
True. Kinda ruins Johnny Tsunami for me though."
"And not that Lilo and Stitch movie that you keep thinking about?"
Alakazam thought with a chuckle.
"Can't help it," I mumbled out loud. "Mudkip is a tiny blue superstrong alien. Of course I keep remembering-"
"Hey!" I blinked, looking. Some guys were standing around a door, glaring at me. Three guys, all looking at me like I had said something about their mom. "The fuck you wan'?"
I decided to be honest. "I heard the Silicon Dragons had a small meth lab here, so I was gonna raid it and beat up the owners."
That shut down their brains for a second. They gaped at me like I'd lost my mind. Then one of them took out a gun.
"The fuck you say, fool!" gun guy said, holding his gun sideways at me.
"Wait, people still hold a gun like that? Can you even aim like that?" Man, Floyd would have laughed his ass off at this guy. Or just smirked. Maybe got annoyed and beat the shit out of him. Honestly, Floyd Lawton was a complex guy.
"Oh, you about to learn today!" I wasn't worried when he went to pull the trigger. Alakazam had my back.
What I didn't expect was the sheer cruelty of what happened next.
The guy screamed. The other two and I stared, as he staggered, gun dropping to the floor while his hands snapped down his crotch. His face slowly paled as he lifted up onto his tiptoes. Slowly, very slowly, he crouched over. And his flower print boxers were lifting out of his pants in a wedgie done by an invisible hand. He screeched as he was lifted off the ground in the atomic wedgie of the centuries, dangling for only a moment before that unseen force began to spin him around and around.
"Somebody help me for the love of God, please help me!" he cried.
"What is happening!?" one of his friends shouted, pointing his handgun unsteadily.
"It must be that guy!" the other one shouted, pointing at me very steadily with his finger. Must have been the smarter one. "He-"
I took a step forward and front-kicked him in the solar plexus with all my strength. He went backwards, tumbling on the ground to cough in pain and shock. The wedgied gangsta screamed when the invincible force tugging him got bored and decided to spin him around one last time before tossing him roughly at the last guy, the two smacking into each other with a meaty thwack before they landed in a heap on the ground.
"AHHHHHHH!" both men shouted. That invisible force seemed to grab a hold of them, pulling them along the ground as they screamed before the pair bumped into the guy I'd punched.
I stared at the trio. Then at the large object rising from the wall of the alley. It turned upside down, dropping two trash bags on the ground, it's open maw pointed downward as it floated over the gangsters. They stared up, horrified. One, the smart one, looked at me.
"It's him! He is the Devil-!"
The blue dumpster came down like the hammer of god, smashing into the ground hard enough to crack a little and embed into the asphalt slightly. Through the metal walls of their makeshift prison I could hear the three gangsters screaming and crying. As they panicked, I looked over at Alakazam, who was floating down towards me.
"I thought you-"
"I get bored too," Alakazam said blandly. "It has been sometime since I last engaged in anything that stretched my skills in the slightest."
"I can understand that," we turned to look at the door the gangsters were guarding. "...Wanna go in with me?"
"Yes, if only to see how far I can take that charade," he chuckled. "I wonder if I could convince the media you are surrounded by ghosts. What a trick that would be. And the best part is, it's partially true." He held up my phone he had been using to record the whole thing and I could feel the smirk on his face.
The next night, we were on the scene at a construction site of a skyscraper when a section of the highest floor came apart, sending a worker falling before Mudkip managed to hit him with a blast of water strong enough to let him hit the ground with a bad bruise instead of, you know, death. While Mudkip and I got to making sure the guy was okay, ignoring his fellow coworkers staring at us, Gurdurr was staring at the building. He simply panned his eyes across it, tracing the scaffolding, ladders, bags of concrete. And then he started mumbling to himself.
He was noting violations. And the list was… well. Long. "Gurdurr, gur, gur. Gur. Gur," he was getting more and more agitated, closing his eyes to rub his clown nose. "Guuuuur. GURDURR," he turned to look at me, pointed with his I-Beam. "Gurdurr, gurdurr durru!?"
"I have no idea," I mumbled.
"Hey!?" a squirrely looking bastard came out of a trailer, looking around at all of us. "What the fuck is going on-!"
"GUUUUR!" Gurdurr took one look at the man. At the nametag on his chest declaring him a foreman, the hardhat colored differently from the others, and smashed his I-Beam into the ground. The shaking that followed brought the foreman to his knees. He stared, horrified, as Gurdurr strode over and grabbed the man by his shirt.
I rubbed my forehead as Gurdurr roared in the terrified man'smans face, the volume sending the foreman's hat flying off his head.
"Wha-wha-wha-" the foreman stuttered.
"GURDURR!"
"He said you fucked up, and he's going to talk to the Union. And if there isn't a union, he's making one."
"Urrr!"
"Seriously man, you have a list of violations longer than his arms. He's going to personally make sure you never endanger anyone again.
"Urr-Gurr-durr!"
"Yeah, I'm not translating that. I did not know you knew that many swear words man."
Gurdurr gave me a look of frustration before turning back to the man and growling.
"Yeah, I'm with him," I looked at the guy on the ground who was still soaking wet and hugging Mudkip with a look on his face like he was still coming to terms with his near-death experience. "Yo. Wanna press charges? Because according to Gurdurr, you can probably get a nice case against this guy."
"N-No you can't-" the squirrely guy screamed when Gurdurr roared in his face again, the Pokemon looking way more intimidating than he should have been.
"How about, while we're talking about all the ways you buy shoddy materials, thus putting the workers around at risk of injury or death to try and add some more cash to your pocket," that was a guess, but the way the guy paled even further made me smile under my mask. "Ohhh. Now that is interesting. Did you guys know about this?"
I looked around at the dozens of construction men and women around me. One of them, a woman with a name tag labeling her as an architect, was clenching her fist. A massive Hawaiian man was raising a sledgehammer in his hand. A white kid gave the skinny bastard a slow and long smile.
"And while we're at it, as we talk this out, let's have a long conversation," I kneeled down to look the guy in the eyes. "About the Silicon Dragons and the deal you made."
We were not at the construction site on a whim. No. We headed there to investigate a Silicon Dragon connection. And the pale bastard was my best suspect.
"See, this place has all the signs of the use of unfortified concrete according to Gurdurr. Higher amounts of sand and water, and a lower proportion of concrete, than regular cement. Makes the stuff weak. Makes it more likely to fall apart, get people killed. But also a way to save cash on the good stuff. It's an old mob trick. Make more profits on a build by paying for cheap materials. I doubt that was the last thing the Dragons did when they had you set up to work here. So how else were you planning to endanger everyone for some cheap cash? And can you get me to your bosses?"
I looked around. "Or I can leave you with these nice men and women around me, rather than the police."
"Please, do," the biggest person there hefted his sledgehammer. "Always wanted to take a swing at Johnny…"
"...I hate you," the sweaty foreman mumbled at me.
"I know, it gives me life."
Here's hoping the Dragons don't know what's coming.
Author's Note: Next chapter, the war between Silicon Dragons and Pokemon Trainers gets real.
Should be fun! Can't wait to show off some weird stuff.