bookpower Chapter 105
Chapter 105
Author's Note:
Disclaimer: Some depiction of gore ahead. It shouldn't be anything too eggregious I think, but I understand that some people are really sensitive towards stuff like this. So please be warned.
***
The place that Johnny directed Nina to was an illegal fight club. Located on the north-eastern side of the city, It was only a few blocks away from the nightclub that Charlie used to work at.
“I wonder why the city doesn’t just clean this place up already?” Nina mused.
“A few reasons; namely stubborn residents and a complete lack of priority,” said the voice in her head.
“This part of the city used to be an industrial area, but since Vermilion City has largely moved away from that sector, many businesses have shuddered accordingly. The lack of contribution towards the logistics sector meant development was slow. And thanks to how entrenched the local gangs are, any independent entrepreneurs who try to take root here are met with harassment and constant threats of violence.” Alfred explained.
Nina shook her head in exasperation, especially towards the second half. Gentrification was a nuanced topic, poorly done and it would lead to displacement of residents, but an irrational fear of it only resulted in stagnation. One couldn’t hope for economic revival without an outside source of money. And no amount of subsidies and donations would help if most of it was going towards fuelling local criminals.
The two girls continued walking, Nina wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with this area since she roamed through it while
‘Melissa’ sighed and dragged her ‘boyfriend’ with her to a secluded nook in the alleyway. “Mr Alfred, is there another way in?” She whispered. “A backdoor maybe?”
“There are no schematics for the building, given its nature,” responded the voice in her head. “Otherwise, I can have my Gallade teleport you and milady in.”
Nina hummed in consideration and released Espy, who did not look pleased at all to be summoned in such a foul environment. The girl knelt down to give her Pokemon an apologetic nuzzle. “Sorry, Espy. Do you think if you can maybe use your mind’s eye and see into this building behind us? We need a way into the basement.”
Espy huffed indignantly but still closed her eyes for an attempt, gradually furrowing her brows in exertion as she did. A series of noisy images invaded Nina’s mind as Espy linked her in. Most of it was too muddled and dark to see anything, but there was one particular image, supposedly in a far corner of the club, of a crummy, nauseating looking bathroom stall that looked like someone just had some very explosive diarrhea, from the front and the back by the looks of it.
Both Nina and Espy gagged at the same time, but it seemed like they found themselves an in, albeit a less than ideal one. A series of stringent ideas and admonishments washed over Nina, eliciting chuckles from the girl. “I know, Espy, I’ll make sure to clean up before I go home tonight.” Matter of fact, she vowed to burn the clothes she was wearing for this particular endeavour.
Espy nodded in approval before begging to be returned to her Pokeball.
“The whole building is shielded,” said Nina “Espy could barely see inside, but she did find a small corner that was relatively unprotected. Do you think your Gallade can thread the needle?” The girl asked their overseer, before relaying in detail the image that she saw.
“Hmm… It is hard to say,” responded Alfred. “I shall send Gallade over with his Pokeball for a closer look. Given the nature of the place, I would feel more assured if you were in possession of him. Please leave the vicinity of the building and try to get as close to this blindspot as you can.”
Nina replied in affirmation and left the alleyway hand in hand with Lilian. The unshielded bathroom stall was somewhere near the front, which made things a little complicated given how visible they were. But fortunately, there was a rundown looking love motel in the vicinity where they were able to rent a room in, the listless looking receptionist barely batting an eye at the two minors before him.
The first thing that Nina did when she entered the room was to have Espy check for hidden cameras, a move that confused the sheltered Lilian until they produced several spy cams hidden in various nooks and crannies. The ones in the wall, Espy crushed with her Psychic ability.
“Alright, Mr Alfred, we’re ready for you.” And with a dull flash, a noble looking Gallade emerged in the room, eliciting a subdued squeal from Nina as she approached and caressed the Pokemon’s sharp blades, until a cough from Lilian brought her back to her senses.
“Sorry,” Nina murmured, before allowing Gallade into her mind. “Do you think you can make that jump?” She asked, eliciting a cautious reply in her mind. Nina nodded and relayed Gallade’s intentions to Lilian. “He says he’s gonna attempt a solo teleport before coming back to get us.” And with another dull flash, Gallade disappeared from the room.
Both Nina and Lilian waited anxiously for the Fighting Psychic Type’s return. At some point they even began to worry if something had happened to him after a whole ten minutes of absence. But just when Nina was about to pester Alfred again for his take on the matter, an exhausted looking Gallade reappeared with another dull flash.
Nina wanted to ask Gallade what happened to him, but just got an unprompted wave of irritation in response. Nina comforted the incensed Pokemon with a gentle pat on the back and some berries as a reward.
Once Gallade had recovered enough to proceed, he gave Lilian a courteous bow and reached his hand out for hers, before grabbing Nina’s and proceeded to do a series of convoluted teleports. Both girls could barely keep track of their surroundings amidst the dizzying array of sights that flashed before them, but Nina could have sworn they were in the middle of the air and in the sewers at some point.
Once things settled, Nina felt like someone had ran her stomach through a blender as she gagged and belched in spite of herself. Lilian on the other hand, actually threw up, not from the teleport, but from the sudden noxious smell of the bathroom stall that assaulted her all in one go. A fact that was made worse after she caught sight of the contents of the toilet bowl she was facing, causing her to throw up even harder.
Credit to Gallade, he took the initiative to shield Lilian’s senses and sooth his mistress with his Psychic ability before hurriedly urging Nina to open the door and exit the space, which the other girl was more than happy to do. Luckily there wasn’t anyone else in the seedy bathroom at the time.
Nina gently soothed Lilian with gentle backrubs as her friend cleaned herself in the sink. Once the Blackthorn scion recomposed herself, she muttered a quiet apology to her two companions before thanking Gallade and returning him to his Pokeball.
“Forgive my moment of weakness.” Lilian said once more, as she straightened her back and hooked an arm around Nina’s. “Let us venture forth.” She declared, eliciting a genial smile from the other girl.
The moment that the ‘couple’ stepped out of the door and began walking down the narrow hallway, they could hear the muffled sounds of fervent cheers and loud cursing which steadily became louder and clearer the deeper they went.
The space opened up to a deluge of body odor, stale alcohol and blood. Hundreds of ruffians and lowlives surrounded a cage in the middle of the fight club. In it, was a three armed Machamp currently engaged with a Pinsir.
The Machamp had his fist trapped between Pinsir’s thorny pincers, desperately slamming into the Bug Pokemon with his other two fists in an attempt to free itself. Only for Pinsir to strengthen its hold, causing the Machamp to cry out in pain.
In another desperate attempt, Machamp heaved and shoved his fingers into the Pinsir’s eye, crushing the eyeball hidden within and causing blood and gray matter to burst out.
Pinsir cried out in pain as well, but instead of loosening its grip, it tightened on impulse and crushed the Machamp’s wrist, completely mangling it in a mess of broken bones and loosely hanging tendons.
Nina averted her gaze in disgusts at the barbaric display. She was once more reminded of the difference between official Pokemon battles and the harsh realities of the Pokemon world. If not for a trainer’s handling and all the rules imposed by League sanctioned referees, this was the sort of outcome one should expect when two Pokemon went at it with no holds barred.
Surprisingly, Lilian looked unphased, probably because the Blackthorn clan was used to more brutal displays among Dragons.
Nina leaned in to her partner and took a breath to steady herself. “C’mon babe, let’s go check this place out.”
‘Luther’ nodded and the two casually made a round of the jam packed arena. The fact that so many people were here to indulge in such brutality was quite disappointing.
***
Author's Note:
You might be interested in knowing that the depiction of the area that Nina and Lilian went to was based off Kowloon's now torn down Walled City.
I've never been there in person, but as someone who grew up watching old school Hong Kong martial arts films, it's a place that's always piqued my imagination.
On the other hand, the depiction of the Pokemon "chop shop" is based on my first experience walking into an old fashioned traditional medicine shop. And I do mean . Not like the more modern ones these days where it's just a bunch of dried up herbs smelling like earthy medicinal goodness.
For those of you who have never seen that sort of a sight in person before. It is every much as macabre as your imagination makes it out to be. It's a sight that has always haunted my mind, begging to be put onto a page in some capacity. And today, I finally had the chance to do just that.
I pray such places no longer exists, but unfortunately that isn't true. I'm sure there's some rural areas somewhere in the world that still possess such dated practices.
I've always imagined Vermilion City in a sort of urban noir setting. In the original variation of this story where Nina never got a Dratini as a starter, she was supposed to go around the city taking up various jobs and commissions to earn money; maybe search around for a lost Pokemon or tail someone's spouse suspected of having an affair. But that never came into fruition and this arc took its place.
But the idea still appeals to me, so I might explore this from Charlie's perspective instead, in his side story.