Kody continues to adapt to his life as a raichu and self proclaimed guardian of the forest. Meanwhile Professor Kookynut and Speedy the Slowpoke celebrate their 100th battle.
Bolt Out of the Blue 2
By CalexTheNeko
Kody woke up with a big yawn. His uncurled his long thunderbolt shape tipped tail from his body as he stood up and stretched. He had been a raichu for a few weeks now and was starting to get used to sleeping outside. A lot of it was just about finding the right place. Right now, he was up in a tree with a ton of foliage that blocked him from sight form almost every direction. Being properly hidden was a good way to ensure he wouldn’t be disturbed by hostile pokemon, or some trainers out late hunting for nocturnal pokemon.
“What am I going to do today?” Kody asked himself out loud. He had declared himself the guardian of this area, ready to defend pokemon against nasty trainers. But, most trainers were pretty alright and genuinely cared for the pokemon they caught. It had been bad luck that Kody just happened to run into two very vicious trainers on his first day as a raichu. If a trainer catching a pokemon was kind, there was no reason for him to get involved. Well, there were a few exceptions. Some pokemon really wanted to stay wild. And for those who didn’t want to leave their home no matter what, Kody would do his best to help keep them from being caught. Most pokemon were surprisingly okay with being captured by a trainer. Apparently, there was some kind of ancient pact made years ago, and a trainer being able to catch a pokemon was supposed to establish a bond of respect between trainer and pokemon. Unless the trainer was a jerk, then forget that guy.
Then of course Kody had to avoid being caught himself. He had actually thought about it a few times, and what it might be like. If he had a trainer he could trust as a partner, taking on the pokemon league could be fun. But then, there wouldn’t be anyone here to defend everyone. Even if the amount of battles he had to interfere in were few, they were still common enough to that Kody could not in good conscious leave the woods. Not while there were still those needing protecting.
Kody stretched, then slid down the trunk of the tree, landing among the tall grass.
“Poke.” Where a slowpoke was waiting for him.
“Oh… It’s you…” Kody tried not to jump. This specific slowpoke he wound up seeing a lot. And despite the fact he had never seen it move other than to utter the occasional ‘poke’ it somehow managed to always sneak up on him. Kody at this point assumed Slowpoke was actually just moving so glacially slow that he produced no noise whatsoever, causing people not to even notice him till he spoke up. “What are you doing down here?” Kody asked. He knew he wasn’t going to get an answer. It was just a slowpoke. They didn’t do much. “Right… Well I’m going to get going about finding some breakfast and doing my rounds. Good luck with… Whatever it is you do.” With that Kody rushed out of the tall grass, across a nature trail, and then into a deep thicket in the woods where he knew some berry bushes grew.
And at that exact moment, there was a loud bang. Suddenly confetti rained from the sky as several grookeys appeared, beating loud drums helping to create parade music. At the center of this little impromptu parade was a togetic, who immediately began to sing at the top of their lungs as soon as they saw the slowpoke.
“♫This is your mission gram! Coming to you to celebrate! Yeah! ♫” Togetic sung. “♫This message is top secret! Meant only for your ears year! Don’t let anyone else know. The life of a spy stays on the down low. But you have a mission waiting for you noooooow! So go see Jenny, and save the day like how! ♫”
“Poke!” Slowpoke stood up on his hind legs and put on a hat that no one could tell where it had actually come from. He looked around the forest nervously, looking in the direction Kody had gone, worried he might have heard the commotion. Or, really, that the entire forest might have heard the commotion. No one seemed to be running to meet him right now, so he quickly backed against the tree, where a part of the trunk slid open allowing him to fall into a tube.
The tube acted as a slide, taking him deep underground before dropping him in front of a computer with what could only be described as way too many buttons and a monitor that wouldn’t fit inside most living rooms.
“Agent Speedy.” The blue haired Chief Commissioner Jenny saluted as she appeared on the screen. “We wanted to congratulate you on this being your 100th mission! So, we decided to do something to really make the moment special!”
“Poke.” Speedy the Slowpoke rolled his eyes.
“What? Was it too much?” Jenny tilted her head. “Junior I told you it was too much.”
“No you didn’t.” The one referred to as Junior poked her head out appearing on the monitor next to Jenny. She looked remarkably alike Chief Commissioner Jenny, just several years younger, likely still in her late teens. “In fact, I told you several times that a loud celebration about a secret mission was probably a bad idea.”
“I’m pretty sure I would remember if we had a conversation like that.” Commissioner Jenny growled. “This is the last time I listen to one of your ideas.”
“You never listen to my eyes.” Junior gave an annoyed huff before disappearing off screen.
“Anyway, your old nemesis Professor Kookynut is up to his old tricks again. We think.” Jenny paused. “To tell you the truth we were so busy putting together the celebration for your 100th mission that we sort of forgot to maintain surveillance on them. But… They’re probably up to something! So, go out there! Find out what it is and put a stop to it! Oh, and pick up a cake slicer while you’re at it. We made a cake for the celebration, but SOMEONE forgot to buy the cake slicer.”
“Sorry ma’am.” Junior replied from of screen. “But if you want me to buy supplies you need to actually give me money to do so.”
“Always with the excuses.” Jenny held a hand to her head. “Anyway, you have your orders, Chief Commissioner Jenny out!” The screen turned off.
“Poke.” Speedy facepalmed. Then he quickly ran to a wall in the room that had several gadgets hanging from it. He grabbed a jetpack, strapped it to his back, and turned it on as he flew straight up. The top of the same tree he had used to enter the lair opened as he flew out of it and in the direction of Saffron City to confront his nemesis.
Kody had finished breakfast and had almost a solid 45 seconds to enjoy what seemed like it was going to be a peaceful morning before someone came running.
“KOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDY!” It was the sound of Vulpix’s voice. The first pokemon Kody had saved. He always felt a little strange calling her Vulpix, but she always insisted she didn’t have a name. Apparently, names were just a thing pokemon didn’t do until they were partnered with a trainer. It had caused most of the pokemon in the area to assume that Kody was a pokemon who had escaped from a trainer. He let that rumor float around, it was easier than explaining he was a former human. Still, as odd as it was to just refer to someone by their species, Kody was able to recognize the individuals he knew. Maybe it was the enhanced senses that came with being a pokemon. Being able to tell the slight differences in their scent, and hear the minor variances in their voices.
“Calm down what’s wrong.” Kody turned around to face the direction of the voice and had Vulpix crash into him. “GAH!”
“It’s an emergency! Oddish is… I mean! They’re going to kill him! Because of the tree! And!” Vulpix was clearly in a panic.
“Calm down. Take a few deep breaths and tell me what happened.” Kody assumed it was time to deal with a difficult trainer. How tiresome. If someone was going to be an absolute jerk to their pokemon could they at least wait until the afternoon so everyone has had time to wake up properly before giving them a good walloping?
“Oddish was! He!” Vulpix took a few breaths. “He was just looking for a place to plant himself down and look for the sun! And now he’s being attacked for no reason.”
“It’s okay.” Kody placed a paw atop Vulpix’s head and gave it an affectionate rub. “I’ll take care of it. Where is Oddish now?”
“By the big oak tree next to the river!” Vulpix explained. “The one that’s about halfway between two berry groves.”
“All the way over there?” This took Kody by surprise. That area way off the map for the routes trainers used to travel. Someone was really determined if they had come this far into the woods. And of course, it would be someone looking for trouble. Still, usually when someone when that far off the trails it was because they were looking for a rarer pokemon, something that didn’t come near the routes. Why would they waste time fighting an Oddish? Maybe it was shiny? Kody could figure that out later. Every second he waited now was an opportunity for the trainer to catch Oddish and get away. “You stay someplace safe. I’ll get to it.”
With that Kody took off running on all fours. Having been transformed into a pokemon artificially, he hadn’t had much of a choice in what moves he currently knew. He just had four his body knew once the transformation was complete. But, he seemed to have gotten a pretty good set up. One of them, Agility, certainly made it easier to hustle and get places in a hurry. And so as Kody ran, he picked up speed, moving faster and faster till the only signs he had passed through part of the woods was the sudden rush of wind that shook the leaves off trees as he passed by.
Even moving as fast as he was, the forest was not exactly small. It still took Kody several minutes before he arrived at the enormous oak tree. He took a moment to catch his breath as he surveyed the area. He didn’t see any humans. Was he too late? But… There were several pokemon here. Beedrills floating around in the air and buzzing, and an Oddish that was half buried in the dirt.
“A beedrill swarm huh?” Kody began to walk closer and waved an arm in a friendly greeting trying to show he was here to help. “No wonder there’s no trainer. I’d hate to be the guy who got on the bad their bad side.”
“Bzzzt another intruder!” One of the Beedrills screeched as Kody approached. Kody wasn’t great at reading insect facial expressions, but he was pretty sure it was angry. “Protect the hive!” Several of the beedrills at this point broke from surrounding the Oddish and moved into a circle around Kody. In just a few second there was an entire dome of the buzzing pokemon encircling him from all directions.
“Okay, this went differently in my head.” Kody tried his best to flash a friendly smile, and resisted the urge to unleash an electric blast. “Look I’m just here to help! I heard Oddish was in trouble, I thought there must have been a trainer-”
“Bzzzt so you admit you are with the other intruder?” One beedrill demanded. As he did, Oddish pulled themselves up from the ground and tried to make a break for it out of the clearing. Two beedrill broke formation from cornering Kody to block off the Oddish’s retreat who let out a yelp and buried themselves in the dirt again.
“Um… I feel like I’m not getting the full story.” Kody muttered. He had put together a few of the details. It was fairly obvious at this point the beedrills were menacing Oddish. He had just assumed it was a trainer, and upon seeing no humans thought it safe. He hadn’t really given much thought to what it meant to be the hero of the weak who couldn’t defend themselves outside of fighting trainers and their pokemon. It was just now occurring to him that pokemon, being fully sapient were just as capable of good or evil as humans. So, if he really was going to do this whole guardian thing it’d mean standing up to trainers and to natives of the forest. But, maybe this was a misunderstanding. Maybe he could resolve this with words. “What exactly did Oddish do to upset you?”
“The intruder has disturbed the nest!” One Beedrill buzzed.
“No one must be allowed near the nest!” A second buzzed.
“Anyone who threatens the nest will be punished!” A third one somewhere behind Kody added.
“Alright, that’s fair. I understand.” Kody tried to not show he was feeling slightly nervous. There was a very real chance he was now the guy who had gotten onto their bad side and was about to have to deal with the entire swarm. “But what did Oddish actually do to disturb the nest?”
“Bzzzzzt! The intruder was sitting in the grass near the tree.” One of the beedrills aggressively explained. “We must eliminate the intruder for the hive.”
“Hang on a second.” Kody tried to give what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “It doesn’t sound like Oddish did anything to harm your hive at all. It sounds like he had just settled down to absorb the sunlight.”
“Bzzzzt, we care not what the intruder’s intentions were!” A beedrill screeched. “Anyone who approaches the hive must be eliminated.”
“Slow down…” Kody shook his head. “I get where you’re coming from, but you can’t be that aggressive. This tree is close to two berry groves and a river. It’s a prime spot for a lot of pokemon when they need to find a place to eat and rest. That’s probably the same reason you picked it out. If they’re not doing anything to harm your nest you can’t just chase them off. Other pokemon have been here for years, maybe since forever.”
“Bzzzt your argument does not matter.” A beedrill roared. “This is now our nest and hive. None shall be allowed to approach.”
“Of course, you’re going to be difficult.” Kody rubbed the back of his head. The beedrill weren’t exactly evil or cruel like his usual opponents. So, he didn’t feel right resorting to violence. But they were obviously way too overzealous about protecting the nest. If they attacked any pokemon who came in here access to the berry groves and parts of the river would be barred. There were only so many berries in the forest and several pokemon relied on them to feed. Having access to two of the largest groves suddenly blocked off was going to create a shortage of food for everyone else. As a result, simply grabbing Oddish and running and ignoring the beedrill wasn’t an option. “Look, you obviously arrived very recently I’m sort of like an unofficial guardian of this place.” Kody tried to explain. “And if you live here now, that includes guarding you and making sure no one disturbs your nest. But there are a lot of pokemon in the forest who are dependent on the nearby groves. You can’t attack everyone who simply visits the area. We can work this out peacefully and make sure your nest stays safe.”
“Bzzzzzt! Unacceptable!” A larger beedrill, perhaps the one in charge screeched at Kody. “None from outside the next must be allowed to approach it.” They pointed their stingers at Kody.
“Oh boy.” Kody coiled his tail and dropped to all fours as he realized a fight was about to happen. “Why is it no one is ever willing to listen to reason until after I’ve knocked some sense into them? Just once I’d like to resolve a problem with a reasonable conversation.”
♫Professor Kookynut’s Mad Science Laboratories!♫
Speedy the Slowpoke rushed down the hall to the apartment leading to Professor Kookynut’s lab. One arriving, he tested the doorhandle, and finding it unlocked, opened the door and stepped inside to the lab full of machines and a balcony overlooking the city.
“Ohhh Speedy the Slowpoke!” Professor Kookynut was dressed in his usual lab coat, and his hair a mess like normal. “Right on time! See how much easier it is to just use the door instead of kicking it down! No more wasted energy.”
“Slow…” Speedy gave Professor Kookynut a dead stare.
“Okay, okay, I get it you want to get on to business! But firsssssst! It’s our 100th fight anniversary! You didn’t think I’d forget did you! I got you this wonderful present! Took a long time figuring out the perfect gift.” Professor Kookynut reached behind one of the tables and pulled out a parcel wrapped in gold and silver paper with a red bow.
“Poke…” Speedy looked nervous as the gift was held out to him.
“Oh… You didn’t get me anything.” Professor Kookynut muttered seeing the slowpoke had nothing but his usual hat on him. “Wow this situation just got awkward. I mean, obviously I didn’t get you something just because I wanted something in return… But you know, I assumed you’d do something special for our 100th battle.”
“Poke?” Speedy shrugged.
“You know what, this is way to awkward. Just… Take the gift and let’s move past this. Besides, I’m sure you’re eager to learn what my newest plan is to take over the Tri-Route area!”
“Slow.” Speedy narrowed his eyes.
“Well, I’m afraid I can’t tell you.” Professor Kookynut took a few steps away. “Because I’ve arranged to have the entire thing explained through musical theater! You’d be surprised how affordable actors can be, we got an all-star cast… And I really wanted to go all out for the big 100! Come on Speedy! Come take a seat, the show is about to start.”
“Slow…” Speedy shrugged, and followed Professor Kookynut over to where two theater chairs set before a large stage with a red curtain stood. As soon as he had climbed into one of the chairs a robot approached offering him a popcorn and a soda which Speedy gladly accepted.
The lights turned off, and the curtain rose. Then a spotlight shined on a man wearing a lab coat over a t-shirt that read ‘8 Years old.’
“♫My whole life I have devoted to my studies! I mastered quantum physics by second grade! ♫” The actor sung their lines. “♫I preferred to read a book! Never learned to toss a ball! And for being different all my classmates were dismaaaaaaaaaayed! ♫”
“Mwhahahaha!” A new actor entered, wearing an ill-fitting t-shirt that also read ‘8 years old on it’ and a pair of shorts. “♫You really are some kind of weird nut! And for that I’ll strike you in the gut! ♫” The new actor made a very obvious fake punch at the first who fell over. Then both of them quickly vacated the stage.
“♫I grew older but some things never change!♫” A new actor appeared wearing a lab coat and a t-shirt that read 16 years old. “♫Didn’t matter where I go! Even if I stayed at home! My own parents found me to be too straaaaaaaaange!♫”
“♫You call this a son?♫” Two more actors appeared, the first wore a t-shirt that just said ‘Dad’ on it. “He’s far too scrawny! Too small, his head gets stuck inside a book! How can he take take over the family business! His arms are just too weak to smash some rocks! He’s useless! Why should we even raise him? With him I say I’m done!♫”
“♫They say that there are some faces only a mother can love.♫” The second actor with a shirt that read ‘mom’ sung next. “But there are limits to what even I can do! His nose so long and pointy! His eyes so small and beady! Such a small ugly thing we should just dispose offffffffffffff!♫”
“♫Abandoned by my parents!♫” The actor in a lab coat sang again. “♫I was forced to move out to the safari zooooooone! But even there my talents were unappreciated. Because so many pokemon were all bigger! They pushed me around and forced me to make dinner! Of their abuse I should have foresesen and have knoooooown!♫”
“Ohhhh this is my big number.” Professor Kookynut squeeled from his audience seat. “Wish me luck Speedy! I mean, don’t wish me luck! That’s bad luck. Tell me to break a leg. That’s theater tradition but I don’t get why. Like how is being told to break a leg better luck than just wishing someone luck. It makes no sense. It’s like you’re just hoping they’ll fail. Ah, got no time I’m on!”
Professor Kookynut quickly ran up onto the stage as the other actors abandoned it. He grabbed a microphone as the spotlight shone on him.
“♫So my whole life I was pushed around! Everyone always looking down!♫” Professor Kookynut sung his song, noticeably off key. “♫But I did nothing to let that deter my love of science! And I built an evil empire as my achieving crooooown! I swore I’d take the world! And I started with the Tri-Route area! I’d show them all what I could do! Wow them leave them whirled! I was ready to take them all by stooooooorm! ♫” Professor Kookynut dropped to a more somber tone. “♫But again and again I’m foiled. My inventions destroyed by a slowpoke! And to make it sting I learn my tormenters are all still in good fooooooorm!♫”
“♫Life is good for me. ♫” The same actor who had been on stage wearing a t-shirt during the 8-year old segment now came out in a business suit. “♫I’ve got everything I could want! I’m standing tall and proud! And because I’m tall and strong! They made me a model for success and fame! And now to me the people pay just for a chance to seeeeeeeeee!♫”
The spotlight turned off and the curtain closed. A few moments later, all the lights in the lab came on as curtain rose again and all the actors came out and gave a bow. Speedy clapped politely and threw a couple of roses onto stage provided by a nearby robot.
“Thank you! Thank you!” Professor Kookynut exclaimed. “We were really nervous about opening night but I think we nailed it! I can’t wait to see our review in the papers. Anyway! Great performance! You all have the rest of the night off! Remember we’re doing it two more times on Thursday and Saturday.” Professor Kookynut walked down from the stage and approached Speedy. “So now Speedy, you understand my pain, and the problem that has plagued me my entire life.”
“Poke.” Speedy gave Professor Kookynut a pat on the arm.
“Thank you Speedy. It does my heart good to know my best nemesis can understand these things And of course, you’ve seen what the real problem is! That all this time! Every who tormented me… All of them were bigger than me!” Professor Kookynut threw up his arms. “And that meant they could do what they want! And then the school bully! He never studied or even learned to speak words with more than three syllables. And now he’s making a fortune as a model just because he’s big. This world caters to the tall Speedy. It doesn’t care for small people like us.”
“Poke…” Speedy stared.
“I know Speedy, I’m sure you have experienced the same pain… But… NO MORE!” Professor Kookynut pulled a lever and the stage rotated in a circle, disappearing into the back as a giant tesla coil attached to a huge machine with all kinds of buttons and levers was revealed. “Behold! My latest invention! The Minimizer! Turns out, my old school bully has a modelling gig for Silph Co releasing some kind of new pokeball today. So, with this Minimizer, I can program it to target anyone on the planet I want. And right now, it’s programmed to go off just as he gets up on the stage! Once he’s only a few inches tall he won’t be so big anymore! And then Speedy, one by one I’ll shrink everyone in the Tri-Route area until I’m the biggest person here! And finally, I’ll be the one allowed to be in charge.”
“POKE!” Speedy jumped up from his chair and immediately took on a fighting pose.
“Hang on! Hang on!” Professor Kookynut threw up his hands. “I know this is the part where we usually fight. But your gift is a little fragile. And I’d really rather see your reaction when you open it before you give me a black eye.”
“Slowpoke.” Speedy again looked a little uncomfortable, not having brough a gift himself. But he slowly unties the ribbon, ripped off the wrapping and then opened the box. And suddenly, an explosion of confetti erupted from the box, forming into streamers that tied Speedy to the theater chair.
“HA!” Professor Kookynut gave a shout. “How’s that for a surprise! Slowpoke Trap in a Box! Now… Just sit there and wait for the moment as I finally have my revenge!” Professor Kookynut paused. “We got a few minutes actually… Do you want me to get you something to eat or drink while we wait?”
“Poke.” Slowpoke glared at Professor Kookynut.
“Hey, there’s no need to be rude just because I caught you in a trap.” Professor Kookynut huffed. “I’m trying to be a polite host, and I’d appreciate a little acknowledgement of my efforts.”
“Slow.” Speedy rolled his eyes.
Back near the giant oak tree.
“Alright… So that’s… thirty-seven… thirty-eight.. Thirty-nine.” Kody observed the beedrills. “Thirty-nine beedrills vs one me. Really wishing I hadn’t told Vulpix to find someplace safe… Some fire move would come in useful about now.”
“Eliminate the intruder!” The biggest beedrill buzzed. Like that, the swarm was upon Kody, attacking him with their stingers. Some going in for a fury of strikes while others tried to make contact with a poisoned sting.
“Don’t you think this is a bit much?” Kody fell back onto using Agility to quickly break out of the dome of beedrills before he could be poisoned or stung. “I mean come on! By picking fights like this you’re putting your nest in more danger than if you just left them alone!” Five beedrills zoomed in front of Kody. He skidded to a stop, and unleashed a Discharge of electricity. The beedrills buzzed in pain, then fell to the ground. “Great. Just thirty-four to go.”
The time Kody had taken to pause and attack allowed the rest of the storm to catch up with him. Kody decided the beedrills using poison were the most dangerous, and so tried to keep those at a distance. Unfortunately, this put him in range of the ones using a furious sets of stabs as he took a jab to the shoulder, chest and stomach.
“Those are gonna hurt in the morning…” Kody moaned and released another Discharge. The one advantage he had here was that his attack covered a pretty wide area. Bug pokemon weren’t very strong. He could take several out at once in a single blow while they’d have to score several hits before he himself dropped. The beedrill swarm tried to escape the electricity, but most were too slow. The only ones that did escape managed because the bodies of their comrades acted as a shield. Beedrills fell from the sky landing all around Kody in the grass. There were a lot. He quickly added them all up in his head. “Ok… Only eighteen left. Just over halfway through… This isn’t that bad.”
The beedrills’ main strength was in their numbers. With the swarm thinned out it was easier for Kody to jump and move around. He countered another fury stinged with an Iron Tail, slapping the beedrill out of the sky and into the tree. Whenever multiple would get close he would let loose a discharge. Then he continuously used agility to move as quickly as possible as he broke away from the beedrills, forcing them to chase after him as he took potshots at them with his electric attacks. Many of these attacks missed, being fired out at random. But everyone that hit thinned the horde slightly more. Two beedrill came at Kody from either side as he leaped into the air letting them crash into each other and fall to the ground. Soon, only one remained, the big one that seemed to be the boss. Kody was certain at least two of his Discharges had hit it. So, this one was a lot tougher than the others. Definitely the leader.
“I don’t suppose you’re ready to give up yet?” Kody asked hopefully. At this point, it had to look like a hopeless battle to the beedrill. Kody had literally just taken out an entire swarm and there was one left. But it buzzed, and showed no signs of ceasing its aggressions as it moved toward Kody.
Back in Professor Kookynut’s lab, the Minimizer started to charge up as the scheduled time came up. Speedy struggled against the streamers tying him to the chair but was stuck.
“It’s no use Speedy the Slowpoke!” Professor Kookynut flashed a manic smile. “I knew you’d forget to get me a present for our anniversary, that’s why I made yours’ a trap! These streamers are made from special threads sewed by psychic type pokemon to give them emphatic abilities. Basically, the more guilty you feel for forgetting to get me a present, the harder the streamers squeeze you holding you into place!”
“Poke?” Speedy took a deep breath. And then the streamers suddenly went limp around him, allowing him to easily get free of the chair.
“You know in hindsight; it occurs to me that I should have assumed would stop feeling guilty as soon as you realized my present was a trap.” Professor Kookynut mused. “Well, it’s too late the Minimizer will go off any second and…. OW!” He was interrupted as Speedy jumped through the air punching Professor Kookynut in the face. “Ah! See! Already with the black eye. You know, there are other places you can punch Speedy, you don’t always have to go for the fa-“ Professor Kookynut was interrupted again as Speedy punched him in the gut causing him to curl over and fall over. “See… Other areas.” He moaned.
“Slowpoke!” Speedy leaped up onto the Minimizer and began to examine the many different levers, buttons and wires trying to figure out how to disarm it.
“Ha! You don’t know how to turn it off!” Professor Kookynut laughed from where he was on the ground. “This machine is way too complicated for your Slowpoke brain to even begin… Hey what are you doing why are you opening your mouth like that?”
“POKE!” Slowpoke opened his mouth and unleashed a massive blast of water as he fired his Hydro Pump at the machine.
“Don’t do that you’ll short circuit it!” Professor Kookynut ran for the machine, but it started to smoke. The display screen began to flash gibberish as blasts of energy flew in every direction. Seeing this, Professor Kookynut dove under at able. “Now look what you did who knows what happens! You could have doomed the entire Tri-Route area!” And then the Minimizer exploded. “Or it could just explode. Huh.”
“Slowpoke.” Speedy leaped onto the balcony getting ready to make his exit.
“You know, the stage was right behind this, like, the entire thing is ruined too now. We’re going to have to call off the performances.” Professor Kookynut sighed. “You really need to stop just smashing things willy nilly you’re seriously going to get one of us hurt. If you got hurt, I mean by anything other than my own actions, do you have no idea how much I’d worry?”
“Poke.” Speedy rolled his eyes.
“Oh fine! Sure make with the sarcasm.” Professor Kookynut grumbled. “You know what. My plan is foiled. You blew up the stage. And you forgot our 100th battle anniversary. So, curse you Speedy the Slowpoke. I’m going to take a shower.”
“Poke!” Speedy ran to the balcony and leaped off before a parachute with his face on it erupted from a backpack he was not wearing allowing him to glide to safety. Right after he left the doorbell to the apartment rang.
“Oh, now who is it? Hasn’t today gone badly enough?” Professor Kookynut opened the door, and was surprised to see a woman in a white uniform holding a box.
“You professor Cookie Nut?” She asked.
“It’s Kookynut! Like Ko-ki-newt. Why does everyone mispronounce it?” Profesor Kookynut grumbled to himself.
“Yeah well… I have a package here… Says it’s from a Speedy the Slowpoke.” She shoved a white box into the professor’s hands. “Good day.”
“Huh? A package from Speedy?” Professor Kookynut opened the box, inside was a cake decorated with the image of Speedy punching Professor Kookynut in the face, and the number 100 written in icing below it. “He did remember!” Professor Kookynut ran to the balcony where he could still see Speedy’s parachute in the distance. “Thank you Speedy the Slowpoke!”
Back by the giant oak tree Kody just had one beedrill left to take down. The biggest of them all and apparently the leader.
“Look, are you sure you want to do this?” Kody asked. “I mean I might not exactly have a type advantage but I just took thirty-eight of you out without breaking a sweat.” He paused. “Do raichus sweat? Do I have sweat glands? I should figure that out. Anyway… You can’t possibly think this is going to end well for you right? You sure you don’t want to maybe consider talking this out?”
“Bzzzzt.” The beedrill hesitated as it looked at its fallen brethren that lay all over the grass. For a moment, it looked like it might relent.
Then a blast of energy flew down from the sky striking Kody. Suddenly, the raichu rapidly shrunk down in size, disappearing into the grass until he was only about an inch tall.
“Bzzzt! Destroy the intruder!” Beedrill didn’t need to understand what had just happened. Only that his opponent was suddenly at a huge disadvantage.
“Ok… Going to admit this was not a possibility I considered…” Kody growled. This was how he had become a raichu too. Who kept just firing random beams down from the sky!?”
The beedrill was now giant compared to him, its stingers bigger than his whole body. One hit would probably be enough to do this in now, and the same thought seemed to occur to Beedrill. It went for a fury of strikes, chasing Kody through the grass striking as quickly as it could with its stingers.
“Okay yeah those are scarier when they’re that much bigger.” Kody growled as he relied on his agility to evade having his body skewered. Being small had one advantage, he was a small target. He started moving in circles around Beedrill, forcing it to try to turn in the air to strike at him. As long as he could keep it off balance it wouldn’t get a good shot in. But that didn’t stop it from trying. And soon the beedrill was striking randomly. It was only a matter of time before it got lucky and hit Kody by chance.
So Kody did the first thing that came to his mind. And only thought about how bad an idea it might be after he had already done it. When the stinger came down into the grass, he leaped onto the side of it, allowing himself to be pulled up out of the grass as he clung to the beedrill.
“Bzzzt?” Beedrill paused, genuinely confused that Kody had just actually done that. Then it carefully tried to strike with its other stinger, but had enough sense to pull its strikes a bit in order to avoid hitting himself. However, Kody was still moving full speed, and ran up the beedrill’s body. He ran around its back, passing above its wings before he managed to get up onto the head.
“Bzzzzt!?” Beedrill spun in place trying to toss Kody off. He clung to the beedrill’s antennae to stay on.
“Ok, guessing discharge isn’t gonna be enough to take you down like this. Hope this works.” Kody wrapped all four sets of paws around Beedrill’s antennae to keep himself steady and looked down. He opened his mouth as a ball of energy appeared in it, and then a beam erupted downward striking the beedrill atop the head. Even at this size, his Hyper Beam packed a punch.
“Bzzzt!” The beedrill fluttered left and right for a few moments, and then fell to the ground.
“GAH!” Kody tumbled off the beedrill’s head after it fell, landing in an undignified heap among the grass. “Well… At least nobody saw that.” He walked up to the giant beedrill. It was unconscious. “Maybe now it’ll listen to reason.”
Eventually Vulpix appeared in the clearing. She saw all the beedrill defeated but no sign of Kody. He tried to get her attention in the grass, sending up tiny sparks of electricity like flairs. But after this failed, he eventually had to leap into her tails, climb up her back and to her head.
“Vulpix!” He gave a shout.
“Kody?” Vulpix was startled by the sudden sound of his voice and Kody fell forward landing on her snout. She went cross-eyed staring at him. “I didn’t know you could use Minimize.”
“I can’t.” Kody replied grumpily.
“Then why are you-“ Vulpix started to ask.
“I don’t know.” Kody shrugged. “Things just… Kind of happened. Look, I need a bit of help. I need an Oran Berry to wake the big one up so we can talk, but… It’s kind of a really long walk for me. Do you think you can help me with that?”
“Okay.” Vulpix looked around. “So… You beat all of them like that?”
“Not all of them…” Kody muttered. “Look this is… I don’t even know, let’s just focus on solving the current problem then we can deal with this new one.”
“R-right!” Vulpix nodded nearly dislodging Kody. He climbed onto her head and got a tight grip on her bangs to keep himself steady as she ran in the direction of the nearest grove.
It only took them a few minutes to retrieve a berry and get back. Vulpix sat it down in front of the beedrill then slowly backed away. Kody jumped down from her head, and pushed the berry as close to the beedrills mouth as he could. Then he climbed up a large leafy flower stalk, and stood atop the flower so he was eye level when the beedrill woke up.
“Congratulations. You’re not dead, and your nest is safe.” Kody tried not to sound sarcastic. The keyword being tried.
“Bzzt. The intruder has… Healed us?” The beedrill was obviously confused.
“Yeah! I tried to tell you. Unofficial guardian of this place. Protecting everyone in it. And if you live here that includes you and your hive. So, you want to make stop being a giant butt about this entire thing and not attack everyone who comes near your tree?”
“Bzzzzt. Aren’t you a little small to be a guardian?” Beedrill asked.
“Yeah, I don’t know what’s up with that. It’s currently on the problems to deal with later list.” Kody grumbled. “But you still got your butt kicked by me. See the red fox over there! That’s my friend Vulpix. If we wanted to do any harm to your nest she could have easily burnt the entire tree down. Instead, she fetched a berry to help heal your wounds. So, can you please, PLEASE drop the intruder thing already. It’s hard enough looking out for everyone without pokemon turning on each other.”
“Bzzzzt.” The beedrill devoured the oran berry then floated into the air. “We will… Allow others near the nest so longer as they attempt no harm to the resting kakunas.”
“I think that’s fair.” Kody gave a sigh of relief. He was starting to think he had failed to beat any sense into the beedrill. “So, you’ll leave Oddish alone? He just wants to absorb sunlight.”
“Bzzzt fine. The intru-“ Beedrill paused. “The grassy one can stay.”
“Thank you.” Kody gave a sigh of relief this was over. Then he climbed back up onto Vulpix and secured his previous spot hanging onto her bangs. “Let’s head back home. I could use a nap after that.”
“Uh sure.” Vulpix began to trot along with the tiny raichu riding atop her head. “Soooo… Are you like that forever or…”
“I have no idea.” Kody replied. “Just… This beam of energy just came out of the sky! Then suddenly, I’m looking at a beedrill that’s like a hundred times my size. Maybe it’ll wear off or another beam will come out of nowhere and change me back.” Not that he was hopeful. After all, a second bolt of energy hadn’t appeared out of the sky to turn him back into a human yet. Though by this point, if he were to become human again it would likely feel very strange. He wasn’t sure he remembered how to balance himself without a tail and he’d constantly be tripping over himself when he tried to walk on four legs. He supposed, as strange as it was, he identified more as a raichu than a human now. Maybe it was because he actually had a purpose like this.
A purpose that was now noticeably harder to accomplish. If this didn’t wear off he was going to probably have to learn to rely on ambush tactics and hit and run strategies. Well, the one good thing about being small was it was easy to hide.
Who knew? He had gotten used to being a raichu. Maybe he’d get used to being small to the point the idea of being normal sized was uncomfortable.
Only time would tell.