[X] Confusion. Does she really not understand why you're fighting back against being caught and tamed? [X] Bullies. They throw their weight around and use force to get their way. For all their claims, when they see something they want they take it, and they attack things they don't like until they stop or go away.
Scheduled vote count started by Aleph on Jul 31, 2022 at 7:35 AM, finished with 85 posts and 79 votes.
[X] Bullies. They throw their weight around and use force to get their way. For all their claims, when they see something they want they take it, and they attack things they don't like until they stop or go away.
[X] Snobs. They think that just because they're big and strong and clever that they deserve to be in charge. They treat Pokemon like they're lesser things who can't take care of themselves and need to be ordered around.
[x] Liars. They say one thing and do another, pretend to be nice to you then attack you or hunt you when you're asleep, claim to care about wildlife in the Forest while setting traps and spying-things. They can't be trusted.
Concern. If she's so upset about how you're getting hurt, why hasn't she called her rabbit off yet?
Bullies. They throw their weight around and use force to get their way. For all their claims, when they see something they want they take it, and they attack things they don't like until they stop or go away.
Chapter 8 - I know it's my destiny
It's concern that Cerise looks down at you with. Worry for you. You bare your fangs and hiss at her, enraged. How dare she? How dare she stand there and pretend to be upset at how her stupid, unfair water-rabbit is treating you when she could call her off at any moment? You thrash against the confines of the water holding you still, but succeed only at breaking the core of still water at the centre of the whirlpool and getting spun round and round and round again until you're dizzy and bruised and your stomach revolts.
The whirling and tumbling stops. The water holds you still again within its spinning ring. Cerise looks down at you with big, sad eyes. They're purple too, you notice. Like her hair. One streamer falls forward over her shoulder as she bites her lip and considers you; bruised and dizzy and nauseous, sodden and cold but still kicking your back paws to try and break free from the trap.
"... if I bring you back to Viridian," she says slowly. "You're not going to stop, are you?"
It's the kind of question that isn't meant to be answered, but you give her your dirtiest, most scathing glare anyway, because it's a really stupid one and she deserves to feel stupid for asking it.
She sighs.
"Let her down, Mallie."
"Zuma?"
"Well, alright. Keep the whirlpool around her so we can finish our talk. But you can let go."
The water lowers you back down to the ground and parts around you. The spinning ring draws back, whirling a tail's-width from your fur, but you're left in the hollow space within it. You're not even sodden anymore; most of the water in your fur retreated with the whirlpool rim. Now only dampness remains.
You could try to escape, if you wanted. But the only way you have to go is straight up, and that would let Mallie catch you again with ease. And no lightning bolt is likely to make it past the Whirlpool ring. Your ears flatten back and your eyes narrow as you stare Cerise down, waiting for her ultimatum.
"I'm going to let you go," she says.
She's what now.
"For your own safety," she adds. "Because, and correct me if I'm wrong here, I'm genuinely worried you'll get yourself killed struggling if I bring you in." She gives you a wry little smile. "And also because you've already destroyed both of my free Pokeballs, and I don't think even Mallie could keep hold of you for the whole trip back to town. But mostly..." She crouches down, closer to your level. "You're a very angry little Pikachu, aren't you? And you really don't like humans very much. If anyone catches you, you'll fight them until you hurt yourself. And then fight them some more."
You stare at her for a long moment, searching for the trap in her words. Then, cautiously, nod. She's a bully and her Azumarill cheats and you don't know where she's going with this, but her conclusion is, you guess, entirely true. You'll never stoop to being kept by some Human like a pet.
"But," Cerise adds. Ah. There it is. "I'm going to ask you to promise me, on something that matters, that you will stop attacking Trainers if they stop attacking you. And I mean stop completely. No more traps, no more sabotage, no more destroying their equipment, no more riling up their Pokemon so they do something stupid, no more breaking cameras, no more stealing things they care about... nothing. The poachers who hurt you are long gone."
"Pika pika pikaaa!" you chitter angrily, shaking your head and rearing up on your hind paws to stomp down again with both front legs, clawing at the ground in your fury. "Pikaaaa chu chuuu pikachu! Pika!"
Cerise glances at Mallie, who shrugs. "Zuma zuma rilla zu," she says. "Ma ma rilla rill."
Either Cerise doesn't spend enough time talking to her Pokemon to understand them properly or she's too stupid to understand what your objection is, because she goes back to that sad mask of concern. "I know the other Trainers attacked you, but that was only after you hurt them first-" she starts, and you turn your back on her to calm down enough not to Shock her. Or try to Shock her. Stupid Mallie.
The wire-trappers aren't the point. The point is that Humans are bullies. They may have stopped the poachers, but who in all of the Human-grove ever bothered to come out and tell you they'd stopped them, to apologise for what they did? They didn't even have the excuse of thinking you were just a stupid animal. You were attacking the bad Humans for months. You made a campaign of it. Nobody involved in that whole mess could have missed how single-mindedly you'd taken up solving it all on your own. Nobody could have failed to see how personal it was to you.
But did they bother trying to talk? No. They just ignored you, and assumed you weren't important once they'd done whatever they did to make the wire traps stop. Until you became a problem to them. At which point they attacked you.
Yes, you kept going after the wire traps disappeared because it was fun. Yes, you tormented Humans for a while for no other reason than the fact you enjoyed making them miserable. And yes, maybe - maybe - Cerise would have had a point, if she'd done this back then. But she didn't. Nobody did. They just sent their Pokemon after you. And after any of your kind.
Your tail and cheek pads crackle with charge as you turn around again to this Trainer, this Cerise, who is the first Human you've met since Grandpa's Ash to bother trying to talk to you. Wenge doesn't count. He talked at you, with no attempt to understand. Rojo definitely doesn't. He talked for his own sake, not for you.
And Cerise may be trying to talk. But she still came here to beat you up and make you stop by force.
"I need you to promise," she says, oblivious to the reasons behind your rage. She takes out a red boxy thing - the same kind as the talky-box Ma has in the den, which tells you about other Pokemon when you Shock it - and opens it up like a folded leaf and points it at you. "I need you to promise, and then I can tell everyone that you've agreed to be peaceful and that they'll have to stop attacking you too."
Silence. You stare at her. She stares at you. Tension crackles in the air like electricity, except not, because if electricity could crackle through the air right now you'd be throwing it at them.
"Trickster, please," Cerise says. "You need to understand; you've become a big enough problem that the League is starting to send Trainers who can beat you, even with all your advantages here. I only got this assignment first because- well, because I volunteered for it. If you don't promise, or if you break your word, the person after me won't be as..." she pauses, visibly considering her words, "... as concerned for your safety. I don't want you to get hurt trying to escape from a pen. This is your best chance at getting out of this peacefully."
Says the woman who's making demands backed up by her water-rabbit's Whirlpool. But despite your anger, a hint of doubt is starting to colour your glare. You beat Rojo. You beat Wenge. You're confident, despite your current situation, that if you could retreat and plan and pick your battlefield, you'd be able to beat Cerise as well now you know how Mallie fights.
But although you're proud, you're not stupid. You know there are Trainers out there who you just can't beat - yet. You're still too young, you haven't grown enough in experience and skill to triumph over all opponents like your Grandpa did in his day.
This... this might be your only way of staying free.
Even if it means accepting galling failure.
"One more time then, Trickster," Cerise says, still pointing the little red box at you. "Will you promise, on your pride as a warrior, to stop attacking Trainers?"
"... pika," you mutter, and give a sulky nod.
"To not harass or torment any Human in Viridian Forest - unless they're directly harming a Pokemon for no reason - and leave them to their business?"
"Pika." Another grudging nod.
"And you won't set any more traps, or steal their things, or break their gear, or provoke any Pokemon that are with them? You won't take any aggressive actions towards them at all?"
Urgh, stupid loophole-closing. Even if it's more for her peace of mind than to actually bind you, it's annoying. It's not like you could do that kind of stuff without bringing more powerful Trainers down on your head, anyway. Even as is, you're suspicious of her promise to make them stop attacking you. You'll just have to run for it if they do. If they chase you even after you stop attacking them and you happen to run through a Beedrill hive, well, that's on them.
"Trickster?"
"Pikaaa!" you snap, exasperated. "Pika pikachu!"
She relaxes. "Alright then. And to all of you watching," she turns the little box around, and you see that on the side that was pointing at her is a little picture of her. A moving one, like a copy of what she really looks like! "Ranger's orders," she goes on, the little picture-in-the-box mimicking her words, "this is a mutual truce, so Trickster is to be left alone in turn unless she starts trouble. Along," she adds sharply, "with the rest of the wild Pichu and Pikachu population. I'm not saying you can't capture them, but I don't want to hear about traps or people sending Growlithes and Meowths into the undergrowth after anything yellow. And if a Pokemon doesn't want to be caught, respect its choice and leave it be. Understood?"
You narrow your eyes. Is she talking to the box? Or... or, no. The box is capturing her in echoes and pictures. So maybe other people with boxes can hear the echoes through their boxes, like when you shout at a cave and hear your voice coming back out!
You don't have time to reflect on this, because she snaps the box shut and tucks it away again, standing back up from her crouch. "Okay, Mallie," she says. "Let her go. But Trickster?"
The water falls away, and you're gone before it finishes hitting the ground, springing back towards the treeline, rebounding off a rock and landing in the safety of the branches. Spinning on your new high ground, you stare down at her with bared teeth.
"I understand that you're angry, and that you don't like humans very much. And I can guess that you don't want us in the forest. You," her lips curve and pull back from her teeth in a way that makes you tense for a second before you remember that Humans do that to show they're happy, for some reason. "You sort of remind me of someone else I had a bad first meeting with, years ago. But I don't want you to get hurt by taking this too far, so think about this, please. Have you asked any other Pokemon here what they think about what you're doing? And are you doing it for them, or just for you?"
You give that due consideration for a couple of seconds, and then mimic her expression with a mocking grin that bares needle-sharp fangs down at the pair.
Then you're gone in a blur of motion, a streak of lightning through the trees. Free from the trap and the water.
But your promise remains.
You soundly lost a fight, and Cerise pried a promise out of you to torment the trainers of Viridian no more. How are you taking it?
[ ] Rules-lawyering. You might have promised not to harm or torment Humans, but you can still annoy the crap out of them. Continue your campaign at one remove. [ ] Resentment. This makes your first real loss - the wire trap didn't count - and it's only cemented your opinions of Humans. Retreat deeper into the Forest to sulk. [ ] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
[X] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
[X] Resentment. This makes your first real loss - the wire trap didn't count - and it's only cemented your opinions of Humans. Retreat deeper into the Forest to sulk.
Let's go for some nice, self-centred sulking. Sulking is a way to recharge, refresh yourself, and also maybe find something to eat and something to help you lick your wounds and recover from the fact that humans are in fact mean ol' bastards.
[X] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
Trixie ain't a bitch. Accept the loss and the consequences of the deal, but that just means she needs to get more swole.
[X] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
[X] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
Works for me! Rules-lawyering is not something I'd enjoy reading. Resentment could also be interesting, though I'm not sure where the quest goes from there. Maybe Trixie finds a fight against a pokemon she can't win and gets really hurt and then picked up by a person and saved, or finds a powerful pokemon and makes friends with it.
[X] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
[X] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
[X] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
It's the healthiest response, I think? I still kinda agree with Trickster's perspective, but while her bitter minx nature is fun, I'd rather not take it too far. Besides, we're going to be travelling at some point, we should train up for that.
[x] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
[X] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
[X] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
Makes sense to stick to the promise until we're strong enough to allow us to continue doing it again, the promise ain't lasting in perpetuity
It's the healthiest response, I think? I still kinda agree with Trickster's perspective, but while her bitter minx nature is fun, I'd rather not take it too far. Besides, we're going to be travelling at some point, we should train up for that.
I find it also likely that a few rather cocky trainers (Gary Oak-Paul types) will try and capture us after hearing we "calmed down". Gotta keep up training to stop that.
[X] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
[X] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
[X] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
[X] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
[X] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
It's a big world out there, we need all the strength we can gather.
[X] Rules-lawyering. You might have promised not to harm or torment Humans, but you can still annoy the crap out of them. Continue your campaign at one remove.
hmm resentment might be the path for if we want to go full spartan jungle training by going sink or swim mode. Resolve i feel is the path towards becoming a trainers pokemon or an un official type of 'gym' for the forest where if you can beat us you really are good and get to fight in a no holds bared type of battle.
and my personal favorite,
[X] Rules-lawyering. You might have promised not to harm or torment Humans, but you can still annoy the crap out of them. Continue your campaign at one remove.
[x] Resolve. You thought you had the upper hand, but that maternal water-rabbit showed you otherwise. Double down on your training to stop it happening again.
