002. [Action for Goldenrod]

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Team Valor? Team Mystic? Team Instinct? PFFFF. Wrath already HAS a team! TEAM ROCKET 5-EVER!!!]

[Needless to say, there's a lot of outrage and offense going around the Rocket HQ, and while Wrath doesn't really understand the intricacies, he gets the general gist. There's a RIVAL TEAM coming to cause trouble, and he is offended.]

[So while there's a few Rockets who conceded to join one of the three taking on Team Skull, the only colors Wrath is interested in flying are the classic Rocket red and black, and he's not interested in sitting on the sidelines, either. He wants to tell those numbskulls where they can stick it, so he sneaks out through all the chaos and into an alley near the Radio Tower.]

[And hides.]

[And waits.]

[Until two Skull grunts come swaggering past on their way to creep in the little-known back-door.]

[Then he leaps.]</sub>

"BRO!!!! BRO WHAT IS THAT!! OH SHIT, IT'S GOT MAD TEETH, DOG!! GET IT OFFA ME!!!!"

"SHIT! I'VE GOT YOU DOG!! HOLD STILL!!"

<sub>[Scuffling sounds ensue.]

[One of the grunts is crying.]</sub>

"IT WANTS TO EAT MY EYEBALLS!! I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE, YO!! I HAVEN'T EVEN GONE TO KALOS AND EGGED LUMIOSE TOWER!! BRO!"

_{[An inhuman shriek escapes... someone (probably Wrath) as the smallest, bitiest Rocket is dislodged from where he had clamped onto the crying Grunt's back. He yowls and thrashes in the grip of the other one, whose eyes grow wide with awe above the bandanna covering most of his face. His voice is soft in wonder, even as he fights to hold onto the whirlwind of sharp teeth and gangly ten-year-old limbs.]}

"BRO... IT'S NOT EVEN A POKEMON.... IT'S... THE UGLIEST CHILD I'VE EVER SEEN. BRO... I... I LOVE HIM..."

"OH SHIT... YOU'RE RIGHT! I'M NOT EVEN ANGRY ANYMORE! LOOK AT HIS WACK HAIR!! THIS KID IS METAL AS FUCK."

"BRO.... CAN... CAN WE KEEP HIM?"

"UH, YEAH, DOG!!! GUZMA WILL LOVE HIM!!! LET'S GO SHOW HIM OFF!!"

"BRO, I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A FATHER... BRO..."

<sub>[The other grunt is crying again.]

[Wrath, meanwhile, has apparently realized that his kamikaze attack has gone horribly wrong.]</sub>

--wh-- WHAT, PUT ME DOWN! I'M not going with YOU!! I'm a ROCKET!! Let me GO! AAAAAAAA!

"SHHHHH, LITTLE DUDE, IT'S OKAY! BIG SIS WILL MAKE YOU A L'IL SKULL UNIFORM AN' EVERYTHING."

NOOOOOOO!


_{[Save him.]}

Comments

[11121_assumption]

He hadn't intended to go near the tower until it was cleared. But as the battle progressed more Pokemon were being forced to flee in the direction of the Rocket's HQ, so Walter intended to clear the area. Darkness flew overhead and suddenly began to squawk urgently, circling down to Walter.
"Attack! Attack!" Walter hurried, following Darkness as he led him to an alleyway where- oh. Where Wrath is struggling with two Skull Grunts.

Walter quietly debates intervening. On the one hand it doesn't seem like they're going to hurt Wrath. They seemed quite amused with him. On the other hand, he doesn't know their intention with Wrath, whether it be physically hurting him or locking him away. And he's...accustomed to Wrath's company now. Noisy, unpredictable as he might be, Wrath has never been a problem or hurt him, through words or actions.

"Darkness, Wing Attack." He ordered his perched Murkrow, who gave a loud cry before taking off, wing glowing as he struck the Grunt holding Wrath.

[garbagechild]

"I'M GONNA TEACH HIM SO MANY AWESOME GANG SIGNS, BRO-- WHOA!! SHIT!!!"

The Grunt yelps and stumbles to the side as Darkness glances off of his shoulder.

"THAT SMARTS, BRO!! WHAT'S THE DEAL?!"

The other Grunt whirls around, spotting Walter immediately and throwing his arms wide, gesticulating with fervor.

"YO!! IT'S SOME WACK SQUARE WITH A MURKROW!!"

[11121_assumption]

"Let him go." Walter ordered, approaching at a calm rate. The wild arm flailing didn't put him off as Darkness returned to his shoulder, leaning forward and hissing at the Skulls.

"Or you will face me." Pulling a pokeball from within his coat, Walter made his challenge clear, throwing it out. Assumption burst forth with a cry and, upon seeing the situation, rubbed his club against the Halo painted on his skull. Nobody would hurt the people who made his trainer relax and smile more!

[garbagechild]

"WHAT!! ARE YOU CHALLENGING US TO A BATTLE?!!"

The indignant shout is accompanied by all sorts of... bizarre arm gestures.

"WE'LL WIPE THE FLOOR WITH YOU, YO!! LITERALLY, CUZ YOUR HAIR LOOKS LIKE A MOP!!"

The other Grunt promptly bursts into laughter, wiping a tear from his eye.

"LIKE A MOP... THAT'S A GOOD ONE, BRO!!"

"THANKS, HOMIE, I TRY!!"

A flash lights up the alley as the Skulls send out two Pokemon, a Houndour and a very odd black Raticate, which snarl and posture menacingly at Darkness and Assumption.

[11121_assumption]

The insults didn't hurt much. They would when he had been younger, a shy boy without a name or a home. By now, it's just what he expects from people. He really, really didn't like the Houndour but stood his ground. His Pokemon would protect him. He took off his mask so he could speak more clearly, and to reveal who he was to Wrath. If the long blue coat, Pokemon and hair hadn't tipped him off already.

"Assumption, Bonemerang the dog. Darkness, Wing Attack the dog." He really didn't like dogs. And from a tactical point of view, it would be easier to deal with one Pokemon than two. Assumption drew back his club before throwing it masterfully, Darkness giving another caw before taking off from Walter to follow the club's attack.

[garbagechild]

When it comes to double-battle strategies, focusing all attacks on one of the opposing duo's Pokemon is actually a pretty effective one. The Houndour yelps, taking a sharp blow from the bone and skittering backwards. It's a super-effective attack, and it hardly leaves the rottweiler-like Pokemon in a place to fend off the buffeting it then receives from Darkness's wings.

"WHOA!! NOT COOL!!! YOU LEAVE H-DAWG ALONE, YO!!" shouts the Houndour's trainer indignantly. But he's too busy holding onto the thrashing, kicking Wrath to be able to do much of anything about it.

On the other hand, unhindered by any attacks... the Raticate is in a great position to launch an attack of its own.

"RATA-TAT-TAT, USE YOUR HYPE FANGS!"

Skittering with speed that belied its girth, the rat launches from the top of a trash can with teeth bared, aiming a Hyper Fang attack at Darkness.

[11121_assumption]

Darkness attempted to fly higher to avoid the Raticate's massive fangs but got bitten on the leg, screeching and flapping his wings. The speed had caught him off guard.
"Darkness, Assurance." In retaliation for the attack Darkness bore down on the Raticate, diving down and slamming it into the ground. But for some reason the attack seemed to do less to the Raticate than it should have.

"Assumption, Bone Rush the dog until it falls." Catching his club again, Assumption adjusted his hold and ran forward. In battle, his gentle nature seemed to give way to a precise kind of savagery, repeatedly beating upon the Houndour with little opening for a counter-attack.

[garbagechild]

An Alolan Raticate might look a little goofy to a human, but to something a Murkrow's size, those gnashing teeth were serious business. Once both were on the ground, it wasted no time in throwing itself at Darkness again, aiming to use its heavier weight to pin the bird down.

'H-Dawg', on the other hand, is not faring nearly as well as its companion. Bombarded by the barrage of bones, it lets out a high-pitched yelp and retreats, tail between its legs. It can't exactly bite when it can't get close to the opponent without getting whacked across the snout.

Fire lights up between its teeth and it spits out a spray of embers in feeble retaliation.

[quickattackjack]

Jack had watched the entire thing.

He had noticed the boy skulking in the shadows from a nearby eave and his chest swelled with pride when Wrath launched his attack. What a fantastic little monster he was! That technique! That form! The hollers of the Skull Grunts were like music to his ears.

However his smile faded when Wrath's war cries changed to cries of actual distress. Wrath was a little whirlwind of teeth but it seemed like he just wasn't up to taking out two foes at once. With catlike grace he hopped down from the awnings and took off down the alley at a stilt-legged run toward the offenders. His winter coat flapped behind him like tattered raven wings and the red R of his own uniform peeked out just above one of the buttons.

"Your fashion sense is something I can get behind, but your common sense needs work. Unhand that boy immediately!"

[garbagechild]

Okay, so.

It's Halloween.

Team Skull fully expected at least a few spooks and ghouls besides themselves to be out and about tonight.

But seeing something with Jack's proportions come sprinting down a dark alley towards them is 100% hella above their paygrade.

Wrath's eyes bug out as he is SQUEEZED between the Grunts, who have latched onto EACH OTHER as well as him and are emitting twin operatic screams in perfect harmony.

[quickattackjack]

That was...

...the very opposite of what he asked them to do.

The ex-ghoul skidded to a stop and towered over the two of them, one fist clenched and the other already reaching for one of the Pokeballs on his belt.

"That's very flattering, but I know you heard me. Drop him!"

[garbagechild]

The screaming continues.

Somewhere down the street and for possibly completely unrelated reasons, a window shatters.

One of them extracts one arm from the tangle in order to fish a Pokeball out of his own belt and toss it, releasing a Golbat.

[quickattackjack]

Jack huffed out a sigh and all but rolled his eyes. Spooking these two wasn't even fun anymore.

"Dennis, put these two in their place!"

In a brilliant flash of light, a wall-eyed Gyarados promptly filled the entire alleyway. He writhed for a moment, unsure about the close quarters but once he spotted the two strangers and the very unhappy boy (with his good eye) he got the message. His gaze then turned to the Golbat.

"This is your chance to do the right thing."

[garbagechild]

That poor Golbat has probably not fought anything bigger than a fat Alolan Raticate in its entire life.

You can practically see its blue skin pale to light periwinkle.

It turns tail (?? do Golbats even have tails) and flaps away like the hounds of hell are after it, shrieking.

That's around the point where the Grunts finally decide that IT'S JUST NOT WORTH IT.

"BRO!!!!!! WE ARE SO SORRY!!"

"TOTES, BRO, PLEASE DON'T STEAL OUR SKIN!!"

"WE DIDN'T HURT HIM WE SWEAR!!!"

And with that, Wrath is unceremoniously dropped and they run off after their Golbat. One or both of them are sobbing.

[quickattackjack]

Jack had no intention of taking their silly skins...but as he watched them disappear into the night, he did sort of wish one of them had dropped their hat. He shook his head and gave Dennis a pat on the side before he hurried up to Wrath.

The Pumpkin King stooped down and reached to push the boy's matted hair out of his face.

"Are you alright, little monster? I don't know what those two were thinking, trying to make off with one of my subjects."

[garbagechild]

Coughing, Wrath slowly picks himself back up from the ground. He'd been squeezed tight enough that breathing will probably feel kinda funny for the next couple of hours. He's scowling.

"I'm all right. Just MAD. We should go after them and disembowel them!"

Spoken like a true... thing-that-forgets-he-isn't-a-superpowered-monster-anymore.

Feral child meets half-feral squid, the results will shock you!

[agent3]

[Maika was getting weak. Thida could tell just by looking at her that the Inkay needed healing badly, or else neither of them would be able to help the Valor attack. As much as she's loathe to leave the Radio Tower, Thida decides that sneaking out a bathroom window on the lower level would get her out quick enough to find a Pokemon Center.

While she doesn't hear Wrath's racket, however, she does spot him and the Grunts who've accosted him in the alley just as she's got a foot propped up on the windowsill, and a spike of anger rushes through her body. How many of these bozos were there?!

It's not long before there's a definite patter of running footsteps coming Wrath's way, and what's probably the most least threatening ghost in the world wielding a soaking wet mop appears, getting up close and personal to thwap the Grunts in the face with the dripping, yarny strands. You might get a little collateral damage, Wrath, but it's only water, and the splatter range is damn accurate.]

Let 'um go!!

a clickbait article i would read

[garbagechild]

The Grunts turn, Wrath still snapping and snarling in the arms of one of them.

The sight of the mangled little ghost bouncing towards them is enough to get them both to dissolve into hooting, derisive laughter-- but the SPLAT of a gross old mop hitting one of them in the face is enough to cut it off pretty much immediately.

"HEY! WE SKULLS DON'T PUT UP WITH THAT KINDA DISRESPECT!!" shouts one, while the one who got smacked spits and splutters behind his soaked bandanna.

"BRO!!! THAT GOT IN MY MOUTH, BRO!!!"

same tbh

[agent3]

[Disrespect? Really? Please, as if she cares. Tentacles with stubby legs put up a better fight than Team Skull.]

Let - 'um - go!

[Splurp, now we're smacking the other Grunt in the face. Come on, back off, let the kid go...]

also whoops i prosed it up in the last tag, APOLOGIES

[garbagechild]

<sub>[This time, the Grunt actually grabs for the mop, aiming to wrench it away. But in the process... he's forced to let go of Wrath.]

[Who hits the ground with a thud, is on his feet within a fraction of a second, and promptly sinks his teeth into the grunt's arm.]

[The grunt YOWLS.]</sub>

"OW!!! WHAT! DON'T BITE YOUR FATHER, YO!!!"

hahah it's okay don't worry about it

[agent3]

[See, if not bitten, he might've been able to wrench the mop away - it's important not to have too tight a grip on something you're using to fling muck around with. But, seeing as he's distracted, Thida pulls her mop back only to smush it back into his face again.

DOUBLE ASSAULT]

[garbagechild]

<sub>[And that does it.]

[These particular grunts aren't exactly... the toughest.]

[The double-assaulted topples over, cursing loudly, and takes several trash cans with him, which clatter all over the alleyway and spill their contents all over the place. Several alarmed Trubbishes go waddling away from the commotion hastily.]

[Wrath emerges from the tangle of flailing limbs (because the guy is STILL gesticulating wildly, even on the ground), wild-eyed and rumpled but otherwise unharmed.]

[He immediately turns around and starts kicking the fallen grunt, who yelps piteously and flails.]</sub>

PREPARE FOR TROUBLE! MAKE IT DOUBLE! TEAM ROCKET RULES!!

[agent3]

[The heck is Team Rocket? Eh...who cares, those grunts falling all over themselves is hilarious. Thida cackles, leaning on her mop as she laughs.]

Get out 'n don't come back!

[in4apounding]

[Penny might be on her way to take out the lead numbskull with the rest of Team Valor, but helping small children in distress is part of what she was literally made for. Even if their choice of costume is in kind of poor taste, in her opinion.]

Hey, stop that!

[So the alley is now occupied at both ends. At the far end, a Crobat drops from the sky to rather erratically hover in place. More or less. At the nearer end, pointing threateningly at the grunts? A girl in a green-accented costume, flanked by a hulk of an Aggron.]

Kids are supposed to get candy today, not get kidnapped you- you EVIL JERKS!

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Oh yeah... it's... it's totally a costume... ahahah... hahaha....]

[The grunts whirl around, the one holding onto Wrath gasping in audible outrage at Penny's accusation.]</sub>

"KIDNAPPING?! WOW!! THAT IS TOTALLY NOT AT ALL WHAT WE ARE DOING, BROSIS!! WE'RE..."

"--ADOPTING!"

"YEAH!"

_{[All this is said while trying to keep a grip on the kid, who is foaming at the mouth like a raccoon and kicking his legs.]}