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Glimpse Through the Window: Summertime Shenanigans

by Chrocey

Chrocey This story follows a new character I'm working on, Lily, whose aspiration is to one day join Team Rocket.
It was usually at this time of year that the temperatures started to to rise in the Kanto region, which meant that many people had found themselves staying indoors with air conditioning, or swimming at the beach.

Not Lily, though. No. She had to pick the hottest time of the year to venture through the forest.

“Ugh! This is the worst!” Lily groaned, holding her arms around her stomach. “Stupid, stupid, stupid. I’m so hungry...and it’s hotter than a Charmander’s tail out here.”

“Koffiiing…” murmured her partner, who hovered slowly behind her.

“I know, I know...we shoulda bought extra food at the last Pokemart, but that guy was a dang scam artist! No sandwich or poke-puff is worth an arm and a leg!”

The growling in Lily’s stomach managed to kick her soapbox out from under her, and she was brought back down to the realization that she would now gladly pay anything to get even a little bit of food.

“I bet Team Rocket would buy me food...I bet their organization doesn’t even need to worry about money. They’d just rough up them shops and take whatever they wanted.”

Their conversation had turned to silence for a few paces before Lily heard a loud thud. Looking back, she saw that her Koffing had collapsed on the ground.

Wordlessly, Lily dragged herself back to her Pokemon and sat on the dirt next to him. She then leaned her back against his round form before lolling her head backwards and looking at the sky.

“Why didn't I catch any water type…”

The sun felt like it was sapping all of the energy from Lily's body. While she was used to doing farm work in these conditions, there was nothing to keep her mind occupied at the moment. Nothing but the ever-hopeless thought that she’d be stuck in this heat forever.

Lily could have sworn the sun had cooked her brain when she heard a faint ringing sound.

It soon became apparent, however, that this sound wasn't some wild imagining, but something real.

Fueled by her curiosity, Lily's head perked up again, and her attention became transfixed at a peculiar sight in the distance.

It looked to be a man. Someone that was about her age, hurriedly pushing a cart along the dirt path.

Lily rose to her feet before hastily withdrawing a pokeball from her belt. “Puddin’, go!”

“Grimer!” Shouted the second Pokemon she caught. Or moreso, the one that she'd won off of a bet with some cue-ball biker.

Lily immediately started to shovel handfuls of dirt onto her Pokemon, which made him look upon his trainer with a hesitant expression.

“You know the plan, Puddin’. Give us a hollar when you've got ‘em. We ain't gonna leave you hangin’.”

Lily turned to her Koffing, who was still settled on the ground. “Let’s go, Gumball. We gotta hide.”

The trainer rushed off the beaten path, her Koffing lazily following after her.

Grimer, covered in dirt, sunk himself low until he was almost flat against the ground. With the dirt on him, he didn't look much different from his environment. Almost invisible to the naked eye.

The man and the cart got ever closer. He was running frantically. There was a sense of panic in his eyes, and faded murmurs fell out of his mouth.

He got closer and closer. Inching ever more to something that was going to make his day even worse.

Suddenly, his cart slowed to a halt.

“Rgh! Come on...you stupid...cart!” The man continued to try and push, but it just wouldn’t budge. He looked down to see what the problem was, and was surprised to see the face of a grimer looking up at him, clinging to his wheels. “What the…”

Suddenly, thick smoke erupted from behind a shrub. It covered the area in a haze, making it hard for anyone to see.

“Licorice! Now! Use stockpile!” demanded a voice through the smoke.

“Charrrbok!”

The snake Pokemon threw itself onto the cart before opening the top of it with its tail. Poking its head inside, the Arbok opened its mouth wide before vacuuming most, if not all, of the container's contents into its maw.

“We're outta time! Let's get a move on!” Shouted Lily before returning both her Koffing and Grimer to their respective Pokeballs.

This little heist was already taking seconds longer than it should have. The young trainer half expected this stranger to have caught on by now as to what was really happening. At which point he might be able to come to his senses and summon a pokemon that could blow the Smokescreen away.

Her ambush was well crafted, but it wasn’t sturdy. It couldn’t be pulled off without any one of her pokemon’s contributions. If even one of them was negated everything would fall apart for them, landing her in the hands of law enforcement. She didn’t even want to think about how they might try and take her pokemon away.

Without taking a moment to look where she was going, Lily scrambled into a sprint, her body responding to the sudden rush of adrenaline. It felt like a terrible fate was inches from her heel, and she needed to run faster

Her heart was racing and her breath grew heavy. Sweat trickled down her forehead while her muscles ached, but she kept running.

It wasn’t until she was at least a mile away before slowing to a jog.

Once Lily and her Arbok were a safe distance away, both of them gradually stopped. The young trainer leaned against a tree so that her breath could catch up with her.

“Good goin’, Licorice. Sometimes I forget you can move so fast, what with you not havin’ any legs.”

The snake pokemon tilted its head.

“Don’t think about it too much. Just, go ahead and Spit Up so we see if this was even worth the trouble.”

The Arbok nodded confidently before turning away from his trainer. After a faint gurgling sound, the snake regurgitated their loot for the day.

Much to Lily’s disappointment, none of it was really sellable. Apparently that man had been pushing a cart full of assorted candies, along with some ice cream that had quickly melted inside Arbok’s belly.

“Dang it…” her gaze returned to her pokemon, who also looked disappointed. “Well, suppose they all can’t be winners. Maybe next time we’ll get somethin’ good. Like a rare pokemon for Team Rocket.”

“Charrbok…” came Licorice's solemn reply.

Lily reached down and grabbed one of the lollipops that was laying in the gunk her Arbok had spat up. She cleaned it off with her shirt, unwrapped it, then casually popped it in her mouth.

“Licorice, return,” Lily said plainly. Once her third pokemon was in their ball and securely fastened to her belt, she proceeded to walk north. Even though they weren’t on a particular road anymore, she knew they’d hit civilization eventually.

At least a piece of candy might give her enough energy to make it the rest of the way.
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  1. Chrocey
    Chrocey
    Thank you very much! nwn
    Sep 17, 2018
    Keleri likes this.
  2. Keleri
    Keleri
    This is super cute, you get a lot of storytelling done with an economy of words and I love Lily's selection of Team Rocket-worthy pokemon.
    Sep 16, 2018
    Chrocey likes this.