RE: Winds of Time - PokéBeach CYOA - Chapter 2
Sorry, TT, you'll have to wait for the next chapter since this one is already written and being posted... now!
Chapter 3
You stare into the fire, eyebrows furrowed. No, you couldn’t turn your back on these people, tempting as it might be for your own well-being. They’ve given you food and shelter, and now it was time to play by the rules of the south. The people of this village likely looked up to Rex as a leader, relying upon him; now he, and the rest of the villagers by association, were looking to you.
You sigh and look down at Piplup, still shoveling his face with bits of bread, gravy dripping off his tiny beak. Not exactly the sporting image of a fierce warrior, but compared to the Psyducks you had seen outside, he’s a right beast. He’s a bit thin from the recent travels, but a couple days of work and good food would build him back up quickly. Depending on how long it would take for the gang to arrive, they might even have some time to train.
The worst that could happen… well, there was no saying, really. You weren’t exactly sure how the gang would react to the challenge, how they would treat Piplup or you if they won, but chances were that you’d have a better shot at surviving the encounter if you were here in town rather than on your own. After all, even if you escape the gang’s wrath this time, there was no guarantee that you wouldn’t see them further down the road. In fact, you probably would. If not this gang, than another.
With another sigh, you swivel around to look at Rex. You’d already made up your mind; there was no need to justify it to yourself anymore. “Alright, I’ll stick around and give this Pokémon battling thing a whirl.”
Rex leans back in his chair, face filling with relief. “Oh, thank ye kindly. You’ve got no idea what this means to us.”
I nod and look back down at Piplup. “Can you tell me what you know? About the gang, that is.”
“Ayup. Well, for starters, their numbers are always changing as they gain or lose boys, but there’s usually about fifteen or so; never less than a dozen, never more than twenty. The only one you need worry about is their leader, a mean fella goes by the name of Bullet.” Rex snorts. “He’s the eldest, and he always goes about wearing these stupid dark glasses, even in the middle a winter. He’s the one of em that has a Pokémon, you see, a nasty little guy that he keeps on a chain. He always threatens to let the thing loose in the Psyduck pens, though he never has yet.”
“Do you know what kind of Pokémon it is?” You don’t know all too much about the creatures, but you do remember that some were better or worse against certain types of moves, and any edge you could learn might be vital.
Sadly, Rex just shakes his head. “Never seen another one like it, I’ll tell ye that much.” He scrunches up his face as he tries to recall. “About twice as tall as your Piplup, but much uglier, with a huge mouth that takes up half his body, seems like. Most of the thing just kinda looks like a giant pointy head with stubby legs and arms, but those teeth!” He shakes his head again. “The thing is constantly slobbering and snapping like it’s always hungry and bites damn near anything that gets in its reach. I think that’s why he has the thing on a chain, so it don’t bite his own people.”
You grimace at the description. A giant mouth filled with teeth that bites anything that comes near it. Sure doesn’t seem like any Pokémon you’ve seen before, and certainly not the kind of thing you’d really like Piplup to fight, but you’d given your word, and that was that.
“If this goes bad, would you be willing to help us out with that?” you asked, gesturing your head at the rifle Rex left near the door.
“What, you mean shoot at em?” Rex laughs. “Twould be a death warrant, that. I’ve the one rifle, and Robbie down the lane has a little handgun that, well, I’m not even sure if the damned thing would shoot anymore. But all them goons have a gun o their own. No,” Rex shakes his head sadly, “no, I couldn’t get more than a single shot in without my own head getting blown off and putting the whole town in danger.”
You feel the blood drain out of your face. “You mean the entire gang is armed?”
“Ayup. Reckon that probably not all their guns work so great, specially in this cold, but if even a quarter of them is decent, we’d still be outgunned.”
“So what makes you think they won’t just take what they want, even if I do beat them?”
Rex shrugs. “They respect a Pokémon battle, same as everyone else. If you beat em fair and square and they don’t honour it, their pride and reputation would be ruined, much moreso than just losing the battle. No, if we beat em in a fair fight, they’ll let us go. Rather to allow us that small victory than to face the wrath of one of the gang leaders down south. They won’t brook for any of that nonsense.”
Well, that’s somewhat encouraging anyway. “How long do you think it’ll be before they come?”
“Could be tomorrow, could be a week from now. Guess it depends on how much those storms laid them up. You’re welcome to stay with us until they get here, through. We’ll give you plenty of food as we can, since we’ll be saving more by you winning than you could possibly eat.”
In Rex’s mind, you’d already won the battle just by agreeing to fight it, but you couldn’t force yourself to catch his enthusiasm. You thank him for the offer and curl up with Piplup next to the banked fire to enjoy the warmth as you fall asleep.
The next day dawns sunny and cold, but with no sign of the gang. You and Piplup eat a hearty meal and help Rex and some of the other men of the village repair a downed roof and some other minor damage that still needs fixing from the bad storms. After a warm lunch, you go off to the Psyduck paddock in hopes of getting some training in, but the silly little creatures flee from Piplup’s advances, so you’re forced to take your training to the woods instead. There are no wild Pokémon to fight, so you have Piplup go through some endurance training, running and jumping and flying and strengthening. Any training at all is better than nothing. You’d have to make your time count.
You have another big dinner and an early bed in Rex and Molly’s house, only to awake the next morning before dawn as the sound of a rifle shot explodes through the quiet air. You’re up on your feet in a shot and soon Rex is there beside you, all dressed and ready.
“That’s them, alright,” he says grimly. “Let’s go out and assess the damage.”
You nod at Piplup and the two of you leave the house to follow Rex out to the square.
There’s a large group of boys in the middle of the village, and boys they really are, some as young as twelve or thirteen by your judgment. But just as Rex had warned, every one of them is armed, and most have cold, hard faces. The man in the center is obviously the leader of the pack, the oldest, the biggest, and the meanest looking. Bullet’s clothing is patched and a bit dirty, but his hair is slicked back with wax and, like Rex had mentioned the other day, he wears a pair of dark black glasses that covered his eyes, giving him a menacing expression.
The leader clutches a short metal chain that held captive quite possibly the meanest and nastiest Pokémon you’ve ever seen. It was a sort of dusty blue, but aside from the colour, it’s hard for you to make out anything aside from giant jaws of teeth that constantly snap at the air. The thing constantly dances and pulls at its chain, biting at the air, lunging at threats perceived and real. It nips at the leader’s pants leg and the young man gives the thing a kick, knocking it down to the dirty snow for a second before it was back on its feet, snarling.
Alright, so, that’s the Pokémon Piplup’s supposed to fight. “The poor thing looks half mad…”
“I’ve heard it said he starves the beast so its always hungry to make it meaner,” Rex mutters at you. “But, of course that should make it weaker too.”
Bullet knows Rex is the one in charge and he begins to walk towards us, through he stops and cocks his head oddly when he catches sight of me and Piplup. “Hey, old man, who’s this, your daughter?” He laughs. “I wouldn’t mind taking her in place of your stores.”
Rex opens his mouth, but you lay a hand on his arm and step forward yourself. This was your battle now. “I’m not his daughter, and you can’t have me. You can’t have the stores, either.”
You hear a growling sound coming from their direction, but you’re not sure if Bullet is making the noise or his Pokémon. “Huh, and you’re going to stop me, eh? You and that little blue turd of yours?”
“Yes. I challenge you to a Pokémon Battle!”
Mean of me to end on a cliffhanger, I know, but I thought it would be most appropriate to let you guys have something of a say for Mia’s first battle. To that end, I’d like to let you pick Mia’s overall strategy for the battle:
A) Fight offensively
B) Fight defensively
C) Fight speedily
The species of Piplup’s opponent is purposefully left vague (after all, Mia doesn’t have a Pokédex), but an astute reader might be able to puzzle it out.
If it makes any difference to your decision-making, note that battles in this story will not be as rigid as regular video game battles. Levels and experience are vague concepts; no Pokémon is limited to only knowing 4 moves, but they still learn new moves as they grow and learn. In short, expect battles to play out more theatrically and with story, rather than the straightforward back-and-forth of a simulated VG battle.
If you have any questions, you’re always welcome to ask, and the writer team will be happy to answer however we can.
And speaking of the team, my own “introductory” period is done and the story will be now be open to our full group of writers. Since the basics of the story and world were my own, we thought it best if I wrote the first few chapters to establish the universe and style, but now that there’s a good chunk of story in, my fellow authors will also be contributing chapters here and there. Hopefully this will serve well to broaden the story and keep everyone involved and interested. Of course, I’ll still be contributing chapters myself, too, just not all of them.
Voting will be open until Monday, September 22nd.
Also, thank you everyone for voting for Mia’s next Pokémon! The people have spoken, and one Pokemon in particular gained the most votes among readers; the authors didn’t even need to step in and make the final choice. I hope you all will enjoy its arrival!
