The Rocket Wars (eric X amaranthine)

[eric]

Eric was a 21 year old Pokémon Trainer, with fair skin, dark brown hair and emerald green eyes. He was wearing a red fedora. His blue T-shirt with some sort of gold-ish logo that was faded, but you could tell it was the symbol that appears around the girth of Arceus itself. His pants were black cargo shorts, and was wearing white socks and dark gray sneakers. Around his neck was a mysterious black, rose-shaped locket he never takes off.

He was in Lilycove City, in the Hoenn region, searching for a Team Rocket operation involving stolen Pokémon. Eric knew it was nearby, and that the Rocket Executive that ran the operation, went by the code name "Thanatos".

Eric had been tracking this guy for several weeks, to avenge the death of his true love, Peggy. Eric wanted justice, and he wouldn't even allow the International Police to get too involved, because this was personal.

Eric noticed a female Trainer, looking lost, but seemingly heading in the right direction. Was she a comrade? Or was she an adversary? He decided to follow her from a safe distance just to be safe.

 

[Amaranthine]

Rosa was on the move, and she was on a mission. The redhead was tiny but fierce, with a fire in her eyes that dared anyone to try and stop her. Just minutes ago she had been robbed blind, the Pokeball carrying her precious Froslass nabbed while she wasn't looking. There was very little doubt as to what had happened - she did catch sight of the familiar black suit slinking around a corner as soon as she turned around. Ever since, Rosa hadn't stopped for a moment. Three pokeballs were still around her waist, marking three Pokemon that she would use to bring this man down. She knew that in a fair fight she could do it, too.

She lost him, though. Somewhere among the alleys of Lilycove the man she was watching had gotten out of her sight and the young woman was left frustrated. All she knew was where she had last seem the man, and she cared very little about anything else. With her hands pressed to the back of her head the nineteen year old tried to figure out what she was going to do next - there way no way that she could abandon her mission and nothing else mattered to her. So much so that she didn't noticed that someone had started following her trail.

 

[eric]

Eric eventually caught up with this mysterious female Trainer.
"I see we have a common enemy. Trust me, those miserable Rockets are no good. Get them alone, and they're easy pickings, but if given the chance to gang up, they are a force to be reckoned with." Eric explained, then realizing he forgot to introduce himself. "I'm Eric. I've been tracking these bastards down for months. We could sure use each other's help."

He offered his hand, expecting her to shake it. But suddenly, the lowly Grunt that this young woman was tracking down, came back, with a pale-skinned, purple-haired executive.

This was Thanatos, one of Team Rocket's executives.

Eric turned to Rosa and asked her "You're ready for a battle against these guys, right?"

Eric looked puzzled for a moment as one of the Pokeballs on his belt started shaking furiously, and a majestic male Pyroar came out with a menacing battle cry.

"Don't worry, Pyroar. I was planning on sending you out first, anyway. This is your fight just as much as it is mine." Eric told his lion-like Pokémon.

Thanatos smirked a little.

"Here to avenge your little girlfriend, wild boy? I remember that pathetic face you made when I killed her!" Thanatos hissed, clearly taunting Eric, whose blood began to boil. "Tyrantrum let's put this beast in his place." Thanatos then sent out a Tyrantrum. The theropod Pokémon let out a loud bellow.


The lowly Grunt waited for the girl to send out a Pokémon.
"Don't worry, toots, I won't use your Froslass, because I plan on selling it!" The grunt remarked. "Weavile, go get 'em! The grunt sent out a Weavile who smirked at its foes.

 

[Amaranthine]

Eric's entrance came a surprise, jolting the young woman with such a shock that she nearly aimed a fist straight for his face - the only reason that she didn't was because he spoke quicker than she could hit and though it took a moment, by the time that he explained himself the roughness had left her normally soft features.

"Rosa," she returned curtly, extending her hand to shake his, but before they had a chance two forms replaced the one she had lost, and it seemed that this man, Eric, knew the older, purple haired man that had joined the grunt responsible for stealing from her. For all intents and purposes he was correct - they had a common enemy. As soon as the pathetic grunt dared to speak she pulled a pokeball from her belt and tossed it. In a stream of light, a Scizor joined the playing field.

"Go." One word, and one finger, was all that the red steel type Pokemon needed to unleash a Metal Claw on the enemy, clamp-like hand glowing silver as he dashed towards the slinky ice type.

 

[eric]

Eric flipped off the purple-headed murderer, and then ordered his Pyroar to use Dark Pulse on the theropod-like opponent.

Thanatos ordered his Tyrantrum to use Dragon Tail towards Eric's Pyroar. However, Pyroar was fasted, and the dark blast of energy that the majestic feline summoned from tis mouth made the Despot Pokémon unable to attack.

The grunt ordered his Weavile to Sucker Punch Rosa's Scizor, and it delivered a blow before the iron bug could do anything.

"Rosa... If you have the power of Mega Evolution, it would help us a lot."

Eric then had a flashback in his mind, to that fateful night when Thanatos bombed the Silph Company Headquarters in Saffron City just two years ago. Eric's now deceased girlfriend, Peggy, was a high-ranking Pokémon Ranger, hired by the company to do security. Eric recalls that he planned on proposing to her the day after. Peggy's last words echoed in Eric's brain. "I'll be watching over you. Stay strong, babe. I love you."

Eric shed a couple of tears, until his grief turned into rage.

"When I'm done with you, Thanatos, you'll be going straight to hell!' Eric remarked. "Alright Pyroar. Use Iron Tail on Tyrantrum before he gets another chance to attack!"

The fiery lion Pokémon let out a loud roar, and its tail hardened like steel as it lunged into the air and mercilessly smacked the T-Rex Pokémon in the face.

"Admit it, Thanatos. It's OVER!" Eric taunted, while Tyrantrum fell to the ground, barely defeated.

Thanatos called his Pokémon back to its Pokeball, and walked off.

"Rosa, you can handle this, right? This grunt must only have that Weavile." Eric said, turning to his new ally. "I have a death to avenge."

Eric's Pyroar instinctively pounced on Thanatos from behind, pinning the Rocket executive down so Eric could confront him.

Eric caught up to his Pokémon partner, and he knelt down to his adversary.

"Go on, punk.. Kill me!" Thanatos remarked, taunting Eric. "I know you want to, but it won't bring her back!"

Eric shook his head. "No, Thanatos... I'm not like you. Just be glad I'm a man of Arceus, or you'd become Pyroar's lunch." He retorted, sternly.

A lone Officer Jenny came on her motorcycle toward Eric, and got off to arrest Thanatos.

"I'll take it from here." She told Eric. "We've been tracking Thanatos down for ages."

Eric got up onto his feet, and Pyroar dug his claws into Thanatos a little more.

"Pyroar... That's enough." Eric ordered his maned feline Pokémon, then turning to the Officer Jenny. "Me too, Officer. Ever since that fateful night, I've wanted justice for my beloved Peggy. Today's the day, thank Arceus."

Pyroar leaped off Thanatos, and the Officer arrested the purple haired criminal.

"You're Eric, aren't you?" Officer Jenny asked. "Come by the Lilycove Police Station for the cash reward. And thank you for helping us out. We appreciate it."

A second officer arrived with a armored van, and Thanatos was escorted into the back, handcuffed.

"Good job, Pyroar. You need to get some rest." Eric said, returning Pyroar to its Pokeball.

Eric was somewhat satisfied, but Eric wanted to make sure all of Team Rocket was brought to justice. He walked over towards Rosa, waiting for her to finish the battle.

 

[Amaranthine]

Rosa bit her lip, holding back a remark when Eric acted like she didn't know what she was doing, insisting she moved towards mega evolution for the sake of some grunt. That pitiful man didn't deserve to see the strength that her Scizor could wield and the steel bug made easy work of the Weavile after a lucky first hit. She was too focused on her own plight to notice when Eric took the admin down, obviously on a mission. He looked like he would kill and while the olive-skinned woman hoped that wouldn't happen, it seemed like there was a lot of history that she shouldn't get between.

She had taken down the grunt, left him snivelling and sauntered in towards him. When Eric walked off, following his enemy, the young woman had her foot on the man's stomach. Scizor hovered close, prepared to strike the human himself if he dared to do anything other than hand Rosa her pokeball back.

"Go," she said in a serious tone, gesturing with one hand for Eric to go do what he needed to do before turning her attention back to the man beneath her. There was a hardness in her eyes, a cold wind that marked a dark side of what was usually a kind person.

"Give me it. Give me my Froslass and you can go, otherwise you're going to get one of those claws around your neck." The red bug moved in close, snapping claws so close to the man's face that he cowered, whimpered, shook as he dug through his pockets to find a lone luxury ball. She snatched it from him, not moving until she opened it and the snowy ghost she had grown so fond of appeared. She pressed in to his gut just a bit harder before she released him and he ran, only when she had returned her star player and Scizor did she turn around.

"Got what you needed sorted?" She asked, hardness falling from her face now that she had what she was looking for. On a normal day she was sweet as pie, but anyone who fucked with her was messing with the wrong person. She would not have hurt the man, not caused his death at least, and maybe she should have clarified that to Eric as he may have just witnessed that display. She didn't, though. The man would walk off with at worst a bruised tummy and a couple nightmares of her Scizor snapping in his face, an empty threat at best.

 

[eric]

Luckily for Rosa, Eric only saw bits and pieces of her conflict with the nameless grunt.

"Yes. Thanks for your help." Eric answered, sighing in relief. "Is there anything I can do to repay you?"


Eric then looked up into the heavens, and an enormous smile appeared on his face.

"Peggy, my love. You can rest easy now... But Arceus knows my work is far from finished." He whispered up into the sky.


He then turned to Rosa.

"You said your name was Rosa, right? We make a great team. We should take down the rest of Team Rocket, just the two of us." He told her. "They've been terrorizing innocent lives far too long."


Eric began to explain about his grudge against Team Rocket.

"Peggy was the only woman I ever loved. She helped me through my darkest hour. We were madly in love, and she was just beautiful. Her aunt used to be a Gym Leader in Nacrene City, Unova. Peggy was a Pokémon Ranger, and among the best. Two years ago, She was hired by the Silph Corporation as a security guard. That fateful night, there was an explosion in the lobby. I was there to commemorate out anniversary by proposing. It turns out that, Team Rocket's admin Thanatos, planted a small bomb on the wall. Peggy was one of many on the list of lives who were lost. I'm just glad she died in my arms. I vowed that I would not only avenge her death, but personally bring all of Team Rocket to justice." Eric explained, then kneeling onto the ground.

He proceeded to grabbed her hand gently, kissing her knuckles.

"Thank you so much." He whispered afterwards.