Ghastly Adventures: Cascade 2.6 (ch. 11) (Patreon)

“Left, left, left, right, left,” I chanted, running next to Mankey and I had to admit, I was doing a lot better than I thought I would be after a solid three hours of running. Pokemon humanity seemed to start at a base level of Olympic athletes and only got better from there. My t-shirt was soaked through with sweat, and I got sand under my ankle weights, so that kinda sucked, but other than that, I was great. I wasn’t even tired, not really.

Mankey was doing even better, his weight on in addition to a trowel that combed the sand behind him. There was a disgusting amount of litter hidden under the sand. You'd think there would be stricter anti-littering laws considering that the inhabitants of the ocean occasionally rocked up to the city to wreck it for wrecking their home. But I suppose the general populace didn't see it as a problem until it became their problem.

“Man man man key man,” Mankey chanted alongside me. The original idea was to share the trowel, but Mankey liked the resistance training. It was a little early to tell, but I thought a bond was forming between us. I found it easier to understand him and I was becoming more… aware, I suppose.

A handful of early beach goers chuckled at us, while others cheered, but to most we were becoming a frequent sight after a couple of days. All of my pokemon had their own training to undergo, but Mankey’s needs were more involved. He was still alive, so physical training was a huge component to his development.

“Still holding Focus Energy?” I asked him as we ran, seeing our destination -- a picnic table. Marnie sat at it, looking out at the ocean to watch the sunrise.

“Mankey!” Mankey confirmed with a nod, and as if to prove it, he began to pull ahead.

“Oh, no you don't!” I exclaimed, chasing after him as it became a race. And not an evenly matched one considering he was a pokemon and I had a full harness of weights slowing me down. That was the reason why Mankey left me in the dust. By the time I caught up to him, he was doing victory flips. “Yeah, yeah -- here’s your reward, you little…”

Reaching into a pouch at my hip, I pulled out his favorite treat -- a berry infused cookie. Very spicy. Flicking it onto the air, Mankey caught it in his mouth and did a little happy dance. I tried one myself and steam had all but erupted from my ears. Spicy or not, it helped recover after a workout. Nurse Joy had helped me develop a meal plan for him -- she had been rather happy to help. Seems not enough trainers took nutrition seriously.

They bought store brand food. Might as well be feeding them saw dust.

“Do you two ever sleep?” Marnie asked from her position at the picnic table. By the third day, she knew to expect this from us. It became something of a routine.

“Nope,” I answered easily, flicking Mankey another treat. This one he jumped into the air to shove into his mouth before we both went to the tank of separating the litter we had dredged up. “I don't need to.”

“That's weird,” she observed.

“What's more weird? Not sleeping or going unconscious for eight hours where you'll experience visual and auditory hallucinations? If everyone was like me, everyone would think you had some sort of disease,” I said, dividing things between paper, plastic, and metal. After three days, we were pulling up less, but that was a good thing. Or we needed a deeper trowel.

Marnie blinked, frowning ever so slightly. I knew that I had her there, even if she didn't want to admit it. Instead of admitting as much, she hummed a non reply. “How much longer until your match with the Cerulean sisters?” She decided to shift the topic and I sighed.

“Two more days.” It felt like both not enough time and entirely too long. Our training was progressing nicely. I was still doing some battles for experience and money. My current score was 46/0/1, with me averaging out around six battles a day. It helped my team, and it helped my bank account stop looking so sad. “You?”

“Tomorrow,” Marnie sighed, feeling what I was feeling. “Today is our rest day,” she continued, sounding like she wanted to get the battle over with.

“Where are you heading after you get the badge?” I asked, tying off the sorted litter to dump it into the designated trashcans. I saw that Marnie seemed pleased that I had confidence that she would win -- and that was because she hadn't seen the Sensational Sisters battle. I ended up getting a ticket to scope out the competition and they were… fine. A hard okay. I didn't want to be overconfident, but I felt all but certain that we would be walking away with our second badge.

“Vermillion City,” Marnie answered, making me pause. Sabrina was a four gym badge entry. “But, I may head up north to hit the minor gym on the coast. I've heard it's a more serious water type gym,” she noted. And that was the biggest distinction between a minor and a major gym -- scale.

Minor gyms weren't necessarily weaker, but the matches didn't draw the same number of tickets or views. It was why Misty's sisters were considered major gym leaders even if they weren't as good as one would expect. Their shows were a big draw, and I'm guessing next year, they would start phasing out if the battles entirely. Based on their numbers, the shows were a bigger hit than their battles and they didn't want to be gym leaders to begin with. So, it made sense.

“Vermillion, then Lavender Town,” I offered.

“More ghost pokemon?”

“More ghost pokemon,” I agreed. “I've heard that Sabrina is a rookie killer, so I want to lean into the Type advantage.” That was bit of an understatement -- Sabrina turned people into dolls. She could see the future. She could read your mind. Of all the badges in the Kanto region, the only one less earned that Sabrina's was Giovanni's. Something like 5% of challengers managed to get their badges. And, unlike Ash, I couldn't count on being given a badge by Sabrina.

“You're going for all sixteen?” Marnie asked and I nodded. That right there was a perfect example of Sabrina and Giovanni's reputations -- merely mentioning that you were going to challenge them made people assume you had to be going for all the badges. Because why would you bother with them if you weren't?

“That's the goal. We aren't ready for her yet, but we will be,” I said, looking to Mankey, who nodded resolutely. It wasn't really About being the best that ever was.

Losing to Larry showed me how far I had to go as a trainer. Gym battles were a safe way to battle some high level trainers. All of it in preparation for something that I simply wasn't ready for.

“It feels like you aren't really talking about Sabrina,” Marnie observed, watching us through narrowed eyes. I hadn't meant to give anything away, but… “It have anything to do with that scar on your chest?” The question was pretty blunt, but I preferred it to tiptoeing around her suspicions.

My lips thinned and my hand went to my chest reflexively. “You could say that,” I hedged.

“Are you planning to do something dumb?” She ventured and that got a thin smile out of me.

“Very,” I admitted. I wasn't ready. I knew I wasn't ready. None of us were. But I just couldn't do it. I wanted to, desperately even. But I just didn't have it in me. I didn't have it in me to do the smart thing.

So, I resolved myself to be smart about doing the dumb thing.

“Do I want to know?” Marnie asked and I laughed lightly.

“Probably not,” I admitted.

To that, Marnie leveled a look at me. “Do you need help?” And I…

I hesitated to answer and Marnie took that as an answer. She stood up from her spot at the picnic table, “Tell me what the plan is.”

…

Some hours later, I sat in a cafe nursing my morning coffee as the rest of the world began waking up. A manilla envelope sat before me as I braced myself for a conversation that I wasn't sure how it would go. Mimikyu sat next to me, drinking from a silly straw his spicy berry smoothie. The others were currently resting in their pokeballs -- a routine being established. We trained throughout the night, rest for a few hours, then battles, then rest, then training.

I hadn't really made any headway into Aura training yet, but I think I was on the right path. It would just take time.

“A rather mysterious summoning. If I wasn't used to it, I'd call it rude,” I heard the person I was waiting for speak up. I glanced behind me to see a familiar face.

Karen.

“Letters left by ghosts. I suppose that's just the calling card of a Ghost Type trainer,” she continued, calmly sliding into the seat across from me, crossing her arms. She was wary. And, fair enough, I did have Phantump phase through her wall to leave her a letter asking to meet me. “He's an interesting one, by the way. Where did you find him?”

“He found me,” I replied, taking a bracing breath and Karen regarded me evenly.

“You know, there's a reason why ghost trainers are so rare. It takes a special set of conditions to make a Ghost Type listen,” she noted.

I gave her a thin smile, “Death.” I answered and her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “Which is part of the reason why I've asked you to meet me here -- I would like some help avenging my murder.” I said, undoing a button to show her the scar over my chest and I saw her go still. I was laying my cards on the table and being upfront. It didn't cost me anything and it could gain me everything.

She pursed her lips, “Most trainers are something like they were born dead but were resuscitated. Or they died on the operating table. That… its the first I've heard of someone coming back from a skewered heart.”

“Well, it was a surprise to me too. But, I'm guessing it's going to be more of a surprise to Team Rocket when they think they botched the job,” I told her. “I have proof that they're operating in the city, but I can't go to the cops because if this runs as deep as I think it does, there's no way that the cops don't know about it. And I can't deal with it myself because… I'm too weak.”

Karen saw where I was going g with this, “And I'm a convenient Ace Trainer. Though, that does beg the question why I would want to go poking the rhyhorn like Team Rocket. Why me? Why not Larry, the winner of the tournament?”

“Because, I know I can help you in some way. I can't say the same for Larry,” I said, ignoring the first part of her question as I set a hand on the files. To that, she cocked an eyebrow at me. “I know you're gunning for a position in the Elite Four, so publicity for taking down a Team Rocket base is going to be great for you.”

Karen didn't really react. “You seem to know some things you shouldn't,” she remarked idly.

“Call it some wisdom from beyond the grave,” I told her, pushing the envelope to her. She didn't open it. So, I dangled a little bit of bait to get her to bite. “Umbreon. I know how to evolve your Evee into umbreon,” I added and I saw her take the bait.

She leaned forward, searching my face for any sign of deceit. She didn't find any. “What makes you think I already don't know how?” Karen pressed, her tone serious. I took that as a sign she was taking this deal seriously.

“I don't. But there's a chance that you don't, so I figured I would start there,” I said, shrugging my shoulders ever so slightly. “And in the case you do… it's not a matter of training,” I added and her lips thinned at me. I took that as a sign that she didn't know how to evolve evee into umbreon. She knew it was possible, as that form of evee had been discovered already, but they were rare. The only reason why people knew that they existed was in Sinnoh, there was a gym leader with an umbreon.

Karen finally cracked open the folder and a deep frown settled on her face, “Rocket Game Corner? The casino?” I heard her doubts and I nodded slowly.

“I've been scoping it out with my pokemon. They have a secret door in the basement that's ghost proof,” I began, and Karen looked through the photos that Phantump had taken.

I hadn't been able to let it lie. I couldn’t just ignore a possible Team Rocket base in the city and move on with my life. Even when I tried to push the thoughts into the darkest corner of my mind, they scratched and clawed, refusing to be ignored. Karen flipped through the photos, her frown deepening the more she looked.

“Okay. Weird, but that’s a leap from shady to Team Rocket,” she noted, the final picture of a bulkhead door in the basement of the casino. It was made of cold iron, as far as I could tell. Metal that was used to secure areas from ghosts. “They’re a casino. Of course, they’re going to be shady. They wouldn’t be in the business if they weren’t.”

And that was a completely fair point. In the end, I didn’t have any solid irrefutable evidence that Team Rocket was operating underneath the casino. The only reason why I suspected them in the first place was because there was a hideout in the Game Corner in Celadon City. I couldn’t get into the hide out because of the door, but it was entirely possible they had some illegal gambling ring down there.

“If I had a silver bullet like a photo with Team Rocket in uniform coming and going, then I would have led with that,” I admitted. Maybe I would get it if I waited longer. Staked out the building day and night. It would be a lie to say the idea didn’t appeal to me, but it wasn’t feasible. It would halt Phantump’s training and delay our Journey. “But what I can tell you is this -- I’m willing to bet my future that Team Rocket is there. If they’re not, and I end up attacking a supply closet with some beefy security, then I’m done for. And I’m still going.”

Karen blew out a breath, closing the envelope and I saw her chewing on that. “Honestly… that’s a little more convincing than a photo,” she confessed. “You’re serious about this?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t,” I told her with a nod.

“Okay. I’m in… on one condition -- give me a detail about the evolution. I want to make sure you actually know what you’re talking about,” Karen said, and I’m pretty sure that was a bluff but I got the impression that she wasn’t so invested that she wouldn’t blow me off.

“The evolution has to happen at night. If it happens during the day, you end up with an espeon,” I added and I knew I had her then. It was dangling that I knew a little more beyond the evolution that she specifically wanted. The evee evolutions, in comparison to evolutions like freebas, were a lot more established because it became a selling point for the pokmeon.

“More wisdom from beyond the grave, hm?” Karen said, standing up and I swallowed a breath of relief. Marnie and Brawly being on my side was a huge step forward, but Karen, a future member of the Elite Four, was nothing less than a relief.

“Something like that,” I replied. She was on board. Now it was time to plan the actual assault.

…

The Rocket Game Corner was a swanky looking building. About four stories tall, a city block wide, trimmed in what looked like gold with tinted windows filling the spaces in between. Given that it was located near the heart of the city, that spoke of how obscenely rich it was. The number of zeroes that the plot of land must have cost made my brain and heart hurt thinking how well crime apparently paid.

The interior was no less grandiose. The ground floor, which carded us, was like a massive sports bar. There were slot machines, card games, roulette, and more. However, the bulk of the space was dedicated to pokemon rings where battles took place. You could make bets on who would win, along with certain conditions like how many pokemon down the winner would be, to even moves being used.

I knew that the second floor was where there were screens dedicated to various battles across the world. Gym battles in the Johto region, or Sinnoh, and so on. Battles between Ace trainers. There was even a fantasy battle league where you had a team of trainers where you won points on if they won a battle and how well they won, just like fantasy football. Then there was the actual Battle Frontier, which an organization of trainers who, as far as I could tell, were more of a rogue state than an actual organization.

The third floor was a dedicated food court, a Pokemon Center, and department stores that all took the tokens that you could win down at the casino. The top floor was reserved for VIPs. But, my interest didn’t really lay that way. What I wanted to explore lay below.

Marnie and Brawly accompanied me through the front door, similarly stunned by the sheer size of it. It sounded like a normal casino to me -- sirens going off as people won, cries as people lost, with the general noise of various machines teasing a big win that wouldn’t come. House always won, after all.

“This place is… very loud,” Marnie gave her rather unflattering verdict as she surveyed the area when we took a booth that overlooked the battle arena. I saw a two hitmonchans in the ring, boxing it out. “Should we have waited for night?”

“We have better odds this way. With people here, they can’t go red alert right out of the gate,” I said, looking around. Mimikyu was on my shoulder. Or, rather, a stuffed doll in Mimikyu’s costume was on my shoulder. The real Mimikyu was currently curled around my ankle, and I had to say, being exposed to ‘???’ for the better part of fifteen minutes didn’t exactly help understand it. “The plan is pretty simple -- the door needs a card reader. Mimikyu will knock one out, snag it, and when we have a way down, we bring in the cavalry.”

Marnie tsked, looking away. She was less than pleased that Karen was helping us out, even if she did agree it was good sense.

“And if we’re wrong, she leaves us high and dry, huh?” Brawly ventured and I nodded. She hadn’t said it in so many words, but if it turned out to just be a supply closet, I fully expected for her to leave us high and dry. It was fair.

“You sure she won’t leave us anyway?” Marnie asked and…

“I know something that she wants, and this is the best option she has to learn it while also doing herself a favor,” I shrugged. It would be a lie to say I trusted Karen, but I trusted that backing us up would be in her own self interest. If I was right, this was all good for her. “It’s not a guarantee, but… I feel confident enough to bring you two in on this.” That seemed to satisfy Marnie because she offered a nod.

Reaching down, I patted Mimikyu through my pants. “Do your thing, buddy. Just stick to the shadows,” I added and I felt him snake down my leg to slither off into the shadows under the table. Part of the recon was marking those who had the key card necessary to open the door. Naturally, they were all high ranking members of the casino. It was a lot of pressure to put on Mimikyu, but given his base form…

Well, I was confident that he could get the drop on someone and knock them out. We just needed to get down into the basement before Team Rocket discovered that they were knocked out and we borrowed the key card.

Our order got taken while we waited for Mimikyu to do his part. I ended up just getting a water that I barely took sips of, my foot bouncing up and down under the table as the nerves started to get to me. I just about jumped out of my seat when I felt Mimikyu brush against my leg and when I looked down, I saw a key card on the ground while he slithered up my body to refil his costume. Pretending to drop something, I grabbed the key card and when I looked up, I saw both Brawly and Marnie had their game faces on.

“Last chance,” I warned them, tucking the key card up my sleeve.

“No chance I’m backing down now,” Brawly said, sliding out of the booth.

“As if,” Marnie dismissed my offer without a second thought.

Pokemon humanity really was just built differently, I thought, patting Mimikyu on the back now that he was back in his costume. “Good job, buddy,” I told him, my gaze sliding to the back room. We would have to get through some staff, but I had a plan for that.

Taking in a breath, I started walking, heading to it and without any hesitation, I pushed it open to the employee only area. Brawly and Marnie followed behind me with a little more obvious hesitation. As someone who spent some time in the service industry, I knew the key to geting by everyone. There was a long hallway, which led to a number of back doors, and one of which had the bulkhead door at the bottom of it.

One of the doors opened up, revealing a young man in a waiter suit, freezing a moment when he saw us. I gave him a smile and one of those head nods that conveyed, ‘I see you and have acknowledged your existence.’ Without missing a step, I continued right by him and he didn’t say so much as a word, simply returning the same nod. Brawly started to glance over his shoulder at him but I stopped him.

“What was that?” Brawly asked in a low whisper as we headed straight for the door that led to the basement.

“Two things -- we seem confident that we belong here, and on the off chance that we don’t, he didn’t want it to be his problem.” I knew the feeling all to well. So long as someone looked confident in a back area, most people just assumed that they were supposed to be there. “So, look confident. We’re almost there,” I said, nearing the door and pulling it open. A short staircase led down to a storage area and, beyond it, laid the bulkhead door.

Seeing it in person… if threw wasn’t something nefarious going on behind it, then I’d eat my shoes. Brawly closed the door behind us while I approached the card reader, idly noticing that there was a camera in front of the door. Not great.

But, with a swipe through the reader, the bulkhead doors began to part. I let out a small breath of relief before I took in a bracing one, the doors parting to reveal not a hallway. But an elevator. Reaching into my pocket, I pressed the alert signal that was connected to Karen’s, and I could only hope that she was going to be following as the three of us stepped into the elevator.

With a press of a button, we began to descend.